The Steelers were a team on a mission this week.
After struggling to get past the Cowboys last week in Dallas, they heard the whispers outside of their locker room that their unbeaten record was a mirage. They were too this or not enough that.
And they also knew when they returned home Sunday for the first time in a month to play the Bengals at Heinz Field, Cincinnati would be starting rookie Joe Burrow, the top pick in this year's draft at quarterback.
Even having Ben Roethlisberger on the reserve/COVID list all week long wasn't going to stop the Steelers from a dominating performance.
And dominate they did. Roethlisberger threw for 333 yards and four touchdowns, and the Steelers sacked Burrow four times and hit him nine times overall, holding the Bengals without a first down on 13 third-down attempts as they ripped Cincinnati, 36-10, here Sunday.
The win extends the Steelers' franchise-best record to 9-0, making them just the 19th team in NFL history to start a season 9-0. They also improved to 25-4 against rookie quarterbacks since Roethlisberger's first year in the NFL in 2004 and won their 14th-consecutive game against quarterbacks selected first overall in the draft.
The Bengals, who fall to 2-6-1, were supposed to put up more of a fight. In fact, the betting line, which opened at 7 1/2 points after Roethlisberger was activated off the reserve/COVID-19 list Saturday morning, went down to 6 1/2 points by kickoff, meaning much of the money was coming in on the Bengals, who had been 7-1 against the spread this season despite their record.
But the Steelers were having none of that.
"It was a challenging week," admitted Mike Tomlin. "It wasn't a fluid week for us in terms of dealing with COVID in the manner in which we had to. We had a number of significant guys that weren't allowed to come to work. We were working remotely from a meeting standpoint and didn't have a lot of exposure to our guys. So, there was a lot of anxiety about just feeling good about the prep. It's good to kind of face that and persevere and come out and have that type of performance."
Outside of a 90-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter and a 51-yard possession at the end of the half that was essentially ended with this T.J. Watt sack, the Bengals went three-and-out six times and had 106 total yards on 12 possessions before the Steelers began pulling starters late in the game.
It was a welcome-to-the-AFC North for Burrow, the top pick in this year's draft.
"I think it is very important to welcome quarterbacks in the AFC North in an appropriate way," said Watt, who had two of the Steelers' four sacks. "Scoring points like that. Holding their offense the way we did.
"We know what Joe Burrow is -- their franchise quarterback. And we're just trying to let him know what he can expect when he comes to Pittsburgh."
The Steelers' message was sent and received.
Even Cincinnati's one touchdown in the game, a 2-yard pass from Burrow to fellow rookie Tee Higgins, who finished with 115 yards on seven catches, came on a fourth-down play as Burrow was 3-for-11 for 10 yards on third-down plays in the game.
"I missed throws. That's what it came down to," said Burrow, who was 21-of-40 for 213 yards and one touchdown.
"You're not going to be able to win football games against a team like the Steelers, as good as they are, when your quarterback plays like I did in the second half."
Burrow was 5 of 15 for 24 yards in the second half.
In the meantime, Roethlisberger was dicing the Bengals up. He threw for 243 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the first half, the ninth-most passing yards in a first half in his career. And that was despite winds that, at least early in the game, were a steady 20 miles per hour that gusted much harder at times.
It wasn't the plan going into the game, but when the offense stalled early with the Bengals attacking the line of scrimmage -- daring the Steelers to throw the ball more -- the Steelers obliged.
"No, it kind of became the game plan," said Roethlisberger, who completed 26 of 47 passes. "Even though we had some elements we were dealing with and stuff like that, but just looks that they started giving us kind of dictated that we were going to have to start doing that a little bit. So just kind of in-game adjustments."
It also didn't hurt that the Bengals were missing some corners. Troy Brown started in place of injured Darius Phillips at one corner spot, while nickel corner Mackensie Alexander left in the first quarter with a concussion. That left the Bengals thin at the position, something the Steelers continually exploited with their multiple-receiver packages and no-huddle offense.
Once Alexander exited, the Steelers went to work using their no-huddle package, with Roethlisberger going deep to Diontae Johnson on the first play for a 46-yard gain over the Bengals' best corner, William Jackson.
"That was the spark that got us going, deep down the field like that," said Johnson, who caught six passes for 118 yards and a touchdown. "Get us in good field position and wind up in the end zone. That gave us the lead we needed and just kept going on adding to it the rest of the game."
Roethlisberger finished that drive off with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Johnson to make it 12-0 -- the Steelers missed on a two-point conversion.
And even when the Bengals had something good happen, like the 90-yard touchdown drive Burrow orchestrated in the second quarter that led to Cincinnati's only touchdown and cut the Steelers' lead to 12-7, that good feeling didn't last long.
The Steelers and Roethlisberger answered immediately.
In this case, it was a 7-play, 78-yard drive capped off by an 8-yard touchdown pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster.
That score made it 19-7, and the Steelers would tack on a 45-yard Chris Boswell field goal -- his third field goal of the first half -- for a 22-7 lead.
The Bengals had a chance to get back into the game in the second half on the opening possession after deferring to the Steelers to open the game, but the Steelers quickly got them off the field and kept attacking.
Roethlisberger threw a pair of second-half touchdown passes to Chase Claypool, quelling any plans the Bengals had of a comeback.
Claypool's second touchdown catch made it 36-7 midway through the fourth quarter, at which point the Steelers, who had allowed 246 total yards to that point, began pulling starters out of the game.
"Joe Burrow is a great young quarterback, and we know he's going to be in the division for a very long time," said Steelers cornerback Joe Haden, who had three pass breakups. "We kind of wanted to set the tone with him. We didn't want him to think he was going to be playing in Pittsburgh and throwing it whenever he wanted, running around. So, we know he's going to be a very good talent. They believe in him, and they have every right to, but we wanted to make sure we put pressure on him and never let him get comfortable to know he's going to be playing against us for a long time."
Burrow never came out of the game, playing until the bitter end. But even the Bengals' final score, a field goal in the fourth quarter, came after another failed third down. Cincinnati lined up to punt but had a direct snap to safety Shaun Williams that gained 33 yards to set up their final points.
It was that kind of game for the Bengals, who have been blown out by the Ravens, 27-7, earlier this year, and now the Steelers.
"They're the two best teams in the division, teams that we're striving to be, teams that are really good year in and year out," said Burrow of the Ravens and Steelers. "That's what we're chasing."
The Steelers were there to remind Burrow in this game that they're not there yet. And they might not even be close.
In the meantime, the Steelers stayed unbeaten and looked much better in doing so than they did a week ago in their 24-19 win over the Cowboys, despite rushing for just 44 yards in the game.
"In some games, running the ball is more effective than throwing the ball," said Smith-Schuster, who finished with nine catches for 77 yards. "Today, throwing the ball was more effective than running the ball. In our situation, they were stacking the box, blitzing guys off the edge, so we opened up the package. It's all about moving guys around and spreading out the defense."
Whatever it takes to win. And the Steelers have continued winning.
"I can't say enough about everybody," said Roethlisberger. "It was way more than me. It was a total team victory."