Steelers Out of Playoff Picture

On a day when an improbable combination of events had to take place for the Pittsburgh Steelers to maintain their faint playoff hopes, they didn’t take care of the likeliest occurrence of all--beating the lowly Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals, losers of nine in a row, blew a 13-point lead, but rallied to eliminate the Steelers from playoff contention with a 25-24 victory Sunday behind a rejuvenated Jeff Blake’s 367 yards passing and a touchdown.

Fittingly enough in a game matching the AFC’s worst defense (Cincinnati’s) and worst passing offense (Pittsburgh’s), three of the five touchdowns were scored by the defenses or special teams.

Blake found Darnay Scott behind Lee Flowers and Carnell Lake for a go-ahead 61-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, immediately after the Steelers’ Jerome Bettis scored on a four-yard run.

Doug Pelfrey had four field goals for the Bengals, providing the decisive points with a 21-yarder with 5:12 remaining.

Two of the Bengals’ three victories are against Pittsburgh, including a 25-20 win Oct. 11 that was their last until Sunday. The Bengals (3-12) outgained the Steelers 483-211.

Only a year after losing to Denver in the AFC title game, the Steelers (7-8) are in danger of finishing under .500 for the first time since 1991--the last time they didn’t make the playoffs.

Steeler quarterback Kordell Stewart, who threw a temper tantrum upon being pulled from last week’s 16-3 loss to Tampa Bay, was benched again after going five for 13 for only 30 yards in the Steelers’ fourth consecutive loss.