A prime-time meeting with the two-win Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football was supposed to be an ideal “get right” spot for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Instead, things got even worse.

On the heels of back-to-back losses following an 11-0 start, the Steelers were completely outmuscled and outplayed while falling behind 17-0 in the first half of Monday night’s game against Cincinnati.

While they showed a little more fight in the second half, it wasn’t enough for Pittsburgh to avoid suffering its biggest upset loss in more than 50 years.

Here is the Morning Coffee for Tuesday Dec. 22, 2020.

Steelers’ Slide Continues

The Steelers were a 14.5-point betting favourite heading into Monday night’s 27-17 loss to the Bengals.

While their rushing attack finally showed signs of life with Benny Snell averaging 4.7 yards per carry, Ben Roethlisberger plodded through his worst performance of the season, completing just 20-of-38 attempts for 170 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

JuJu Smith-Schuster, who had some fun dancing on the Bengals logo before the game, was hit hard several times including one blow for a forced fumble that was one of Pittsburgh’s three turnovers in the game.

Cincinnati had lost 10 straight games to its division rival entering Monday night, but emerged with the biggest upset in franchise history.

The Steelers are one of only three teams over the past 25 seasons to enter a game as a betting favourite of 14 points or more and lose it by double digits.

So where does Pittsburgh go from here?

Well, next up for the Steelers is a date with the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

If Pittsburgh loses that game and the Cleveland Browns beat the New York Jets on Sunday, then the AFC North title will be on the line when the Steelers visit Cleveland in Week 17.

Pittsburgh is still a -350 favourite to win the division. The Browns are listed at +280.

More importantly, you couldn’t bet on the division winner heading into Monday night because the Steelers were in position to clinch the AFC North with a win over Cincinnati, which seemed like a very likely outcome.

After dropping three in a row, all of a sudden Cleveland is right back in it.

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

I was hoping that Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson could hold off until next week to deliver a much-needed big performance for my fantasy squad.

I’ve reached the finals in two of my four leagues. In both of those leagues, I won’t have Michael Thomas available again this week.

Johnson led the Steelers with eight catches for 59 yards and a touchdown against the Bengals, and he came very close to another score in the second half.

Hopefully for my sake, he shows up again versus the Colts in Week 16.

As for filling the hole left by Thomas, I’m considering plugging in the wide receiver that stands to benefit the most in his absence from a production standpoint.

Here are my top waiver wire options for Week 16:

WR Emmanuel Sanders, Saints: Sanders’ rostered percentage climbed 22.3 per cent in TSN fantasy football leagues after the news broke that Thomas would be sidelined for the remainder of the regular season. However, he’s still available in just over 35 per cent of leagues. Sanders had four catches for 76 yards on five targets in the Saints’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15. He’ll face a much better matchup this week against the Minnesota Vikings in Drew Brees’ second start back from injury. I’m likely firing up Sanders in both leagues that I lost Thomas in this week.

QB Jalen Hurts, Eagles: I have Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson in the two leagues I am still alive in this week, so I don’t need a quarterback. However, if you somehow made the finals with a fringe QB1 that you don’t feel entirely comfortable with this week, then Hurts might be your best bet for the finals. Hurts threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 63 yards and a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 15. He could be in line for his best performance as a pro against the Dallas Cowboys this week.

WR Darnell Mooney, Bears: Inconsistency at quarterback has kept a lid on Mooney’s potential in his first NFL season with the Chicago Bears. Still, he had four catches for 49 yards and a touchdown in last week’s win over the Minnesota Vikings. Chicago gets the Jacksonville Jaguars this week. With Mitch Trubisky at quarterback, Mooney is worth a look.

RB Le’Veon Bell, Chiefs: Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s injury opens the door for Bell to start for Kansas City against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 16. Bell is still available in more than 40 per cent of TSN leagues.

WR Jalen Guyton, Chargers: Guyton had four catches for 91 yards in last week’s win over the Las Vegas Raiders. If Keenan Allen and/or Mike Williams are forced to miss this week’s game against a reeling Denver Broncos’ secondary, Guyton becomes a deep sleeper pick in fantasy football league finals.