Steelers remind Bengals who's in charge of AFC North

	Carson Palmer entered the week second in the NFL in passer rating, but he threw two interceptions and no TDs on Sunday. AP

CINCINNATI -- With seven weeks down and 10 to go, the standings in the AFC North still say the Cincinnati Bengals are holding down first place, a half-game ahead of the defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

So why does it feel like the Bengals are what we used to call hopelessly ahead? Maybe because Cincinnati actually dropped more than a football game Sunday afternoon at rainy and gloomy Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals' 27-13 defeat at the hands of the Steelers was first and foremost an opportunity lost.

So it's game on in the AFC North. There will be no coronation in the Queen City just yet. In the statement game of their renaissance season, the Bengals came up more than a tad hoarse, failing to deliver anything remotely resembling a knockout punch to the Steelers' division title hopes.

"We were in the driver's seat,'' loquacious Bengals receiver Chad Johnson said. "Now it feels like we're in the passenger seat, and I didn't really want to be dealing with that.''

And don't look now, Bengals, but those objects in your rear-view mirror are much larger than they appear. And they're wearing that familiar black and gold. Pittsburgh isn't merely closing in on Cincinnati from behind, it's already in the passing lane and starting to accelerate.

Not that you got much of a sense of that in the Bengals' losing locker room. Cincinnati head coach Marvin Lewis tried to set the tone, claiming the loss to the Steelers was "just another game on our schedule.'' But that's what you always say when you lost the kind of measuring-stick game that shows you just how far you've still got to go as a team. Which appears to be a ways yet, judging by how thoroughly the Steelers turned it into their kind of game after halftime, rolling up 150 yards rushing in those two quarters (en route to a season-high 221) and holding the ball for all but 8:02 of the second half.

The Bengals were full of coulda, shoulda, woulda, but when it mattered in the first half and early in the third quarter, they couldn't get it done. And because of it, Cincinnati missed the chance to improve to 6-1 and build a commanding 2½-game lead in the division, claiming the early head-to-head tiebreaker over the team that has won three of the past four AFC North titles.