The Steelers look to end their 45-year losing streak on Thursday night versus the Bengals

The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the most successful franchises in NFL History, but for all their success, there’s one thing they’ve never been able to accomplish: The Steelers have never won a Thursday night road game against a Division I opponent.

The Steelers had a chance to end that streak in Week 7, but instead, the Cincinnati Bengals pulled off a 33-31 upset at Baycor Stadium. The Steelers have now played a total of nine Thursday games on the road in franchise history, and they have gone 0-9 in those games, which includes going 0-7 under Mike Tomlin.

In Cincinnati, the Steelers had no answers for Joe Flacco, who threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns in the win. Ja’Marr Chase also broke out for a franchise-record 16 catches to help propel the Bengals.

For the Steelers, it was another disappointment on Thursday.

Thursday’s losing streak began in 1980 with a loss to the Houston Oilers, and has now been going for 45 years.

Oilers (AFC Central)	Oilers 6-0	December 4, 1980
Jaguars (AFC Central)	Jaguars 20-6	December 2, 1999
Browns (North Asia)	Brown 13-	December 10, 2009
Ravens (AFC North)	The Ravens are 22-20	November 28, 2013
Ravens (AFC North)	Ravens 26-6	September 11, 2014
Browns (North Asia)	Brown 21-7	November 14, 2019
Browns (North Asia)	Brown 29-17	September 22, 2022
Browns (North Asia)	Brown 24-19	November 21, 2024

This streak lasted so long that the Steelers played two division games against opponents who weren’t even in their division anymore (Jaguars and Oilers/Titans).

It’s not just divisional games, though, as Thursday nights have generally been a nightmare for the Steelers. Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the Steelers are now 3-16 in Thursday road games, their worst winning percentage ever. NFL team In that period.

Here’s a look at the three teams that were the worst in Thursday road games since 1970 (via CBS Sports Research):

1. Steelers: 3-16 (.158)
2. Brown: 2-8 (.200)
3. Airplanes: 3-11 (.214)

The fact that the Browns and Jets are on that list isn’t a surprise to anyone, but seeing the Steelers clustered there is certainly shocking. Overall, the Steelers are 12-19 on Thursdays in franchise history.

If you just look at the games played since Tomlin was hired, the numbers don’t get any better. The Steelers coach is 2-10 on the road in Thursday games, including 0-7 against divisional opponents. Since the start of the 2019 season, the Steelers are 1-6 on Thursday night.

With the Steelers facing Flacco, we probably should have known Pittsburgh wasn’t going to win. The Bengals’ win gave Flacco 12 career wins against the Steelers, which ties Tom Brady for the most wins against Pittsburgh in NFL history.

Flacco and Rodgers gave us a historic duel on Thursday night: The Match It marks the second ever pairing of the two midfielders Over the age of forty. The only other time this has happened came in 2020 when Brady and Drew Brees played each other three times while playing for the Buccaneers and Saints.

Rodgers threw for 249 yards and four touchdowns, but also threw two interceptions in the loss.