The Pittsburgh Steelers are lucky to have won ten games early. They could be stuck with ten wins before the offseason begins.

The Steelers fell apart and once again had a terrible performance with the offense largely inept. The Steelers lost 19-17 to the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday night, keeping their high playoff hopes alive. It was the Steelers’ fourth straight game in which they never took the lead.

The Steelers had a chance to win the game with a field goal at the end, but their drive stalled before reaching midfield and the Bengals held on when Pat Freiermuth dropped a fourth-down pass. That sums up the past month for the Steelers.

The Bengals (9-8) had to win and then wait until Sunday for help. Additionally, the Kansas City Chiefs must beat the Denver Broncos and the New York Jets must beat the Miami Dolphins (or a tie) to secure the wild card spot.

The Steelers (10-7) are in the playoffs. But they will face the Baltimore Ravens next week if the Los Angeles Chargers win against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. If the Chargers lose, the Steelers will face the Houston Texans on the road.

It might not matter who the Steelers play. They can’t seem to beat any playoff-caliber opponents lately.

The Steelers have a difficult first half

The Steelers had lost three straight and got off to a slow start Saturday. Bengals QB Joe Burrow had an easy drive downfield early in the game. The Steelers used cornerback Cory Trice Jr., who replaced the inactive Donte Jackson and made his first career start in his sixth NFL game, without help on Ja’Marr Chase. Chase easily beat him for a 12-yard touchdown. It was Chase’s 17th touchdown of the season. Burrow completed all six of his passes on the drive. Entering the game, he had 12 consecutive completions, a streak that was broken by a dropped pass.

After Chase’s touchdown, the Steelers had a quick three-pointer that continued a difficult stretch for the offense. Pittsburgh hadn’t even led a game since its win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 14. That was on December 8th. It was a bad December for a team that was once 10-3 and eliminated from the AFC North championship hunt when the Baltimore Ravens won Game 1 on Saturday. And the beginning of January didn’t look much better.

Pittsburgh got something going on offense, cutting the deficit to 10-7 with a Najee Harris touchdown, but the Steelers made a few mistakes late in the half. They failed on a punt return, but a good catch off a deflection by Beanie Bishop Jr. saved them. But then the Steelers tried fourth-and-1 at their own 37 and were stopped, giving Cincinnati a chance to score before the end of the half. The Steelers held Cincinnati off with a field goal attempt, and the Bengals took a 13-7 lead. The Steelers only had 75 yards at halftime. Russell Wilson only had four completions for 45 yards at that point. Pittsburgh didn’t exceed the game’s 100-yard mark until the fourth quarter.

At halftime it probably should have been 10-7 at most, but the Steelers couldn’t shake themselves. This has been her story for a month.

The Bengals remain alive for the postseason

The Bengals’ story was the opposite. They have won five straight to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Cincinnati had to hang on Saturday evening. The Bengals should have put the game away and did, taking a 19-7 lead. They were in great shape when they forced a Steelers punt and led 19-14 with just under six minutes left. But then an irregular rally gave the Steelers new hope. A Steelers punt hit the foot of Bengals cornerback DJ Ivey, who blocked, and Pittsburgh recovered.

A big sack by Trey Hendrickson, who leads the NFL in sacks heading into Sunday’s games, was one of the main reasons the Steelers’ offense stalled and they settled for a field goal.

The Steelers had another chance to win. Right after the two-minute warning on third down, they got a sack to force a punt. Pittsburgh got it down on a third-down catch by Freiermuth. But Wilson was stopped on a run, took another sack from Hendrickson, failed to hit an open George Pickens, and on fourth down Freiermuth’s pass bounced off his hands. And that was the game.

Burrow has played well all season, and he and others like Chase and Tee Higgins have overcome many problems around them to salvage a winning record. The Bengals (9-8) need a win over the starting Chiefs and the 4-12 Jets on Sunday to get into the playoffs. If Cincinnati doesn’t make it, the focus should be much less on the five-game winning streak, which included lucky wins against the Cowboys and Broncos and other wins against bad teams like the Titans and Browns, and more curiosity about what a team is like with an MVP-caliber quarterback could miss the postseason.

But the Bengals are still alive on the final day of the regular season. They’ll be big fans of the Jets and Chiefs on Sunday.