Kickoff: Sunday, 1:00 p.m. ET
Line: Cincinnati -3, Total: 47

The Steelers face a must-win situation when they visit the surging Bengals on Sunday.

While Pittsburgh lost 35-32 at home against the Saints last week, Cincinnati picked up its third straight victory (2-1 ATS) in a 14-13 win at Tampa Bay. These teams have split wins SU and ATS in their last four meetings, but the Steelers are 18-5 SU (17-6 ATS) on the road in this series since 1992. Pittsburgh also won 30-20 as 2-point home underdogs in the most recent matchup between these two rivals on Dec. 15, 2013. Over the past two seasons, the Steelers are 7-0 ATS after having lost two of their past three games. The Bengals, however, are 7-0 ATS in home games off one or more consecutive Unders in the past two seasons, and 11-3 ATS in home games during that time. The Bengals have the 25th-ranked rushing defense in football and will now need to slow down RB Le’Veon Bell, who has totaled over 200 yards from scrimmage in each of the Steelers’ past two games. Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger is dealing with an injured hand, but he’ll be ready to play on Sunday. LBs James Harrison (knee) and Jarvis Jones (wrist) are also considered probable, while LB Ryan Shazier (ankle), CB Cortez Allen (thumb), DT Steve McLendon and OT Marcus Gilbert (ankle) are all questionable. For Cincinnati, four defensive players are listed as questionable -- CB Adam Jones (concussion), DT Domata Peko (elbow) and DEs Robert Geathers (hip) and Margus Hunt (ankle) -- as are WR James Wright (knee) and G Mike Pollak (knee).

Who will win this crucial division game on Sunday? For the answer, connect to NFL Best Bets for all the StatFox Experts picks throughout the 2014 regular season and playoffs. The experts have remained profitable since Week 3, combining for a 53.2% ATS mark (91-80). StatFox Dave is 56% ATS (27-21) in Best Bets during these 11 weeks to improve to 54.4% ATS (31-26) on the season. StatFox Gary is 69% ATS (9-4) in his past four weeks of NFL Best Bets, while StatFox Scott is 55% ATS (26-21) in Best Bets since Week 3. StatFox Brian continues to profit in NFL Totals with a 55% record (21-17) for the season.

The Steelers have lost two of their past three games and it will now be very difficult for them to get into the playoffs if they are to lose against the Bengals on Sunday. QB Ben Roethlisberger (3,705 yards, 26 TD, 8 INT) comes into this game after throwing for 435 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in a loss to the Saints. One of those touchdown passes was a meaningless throw to WR Antonio Brown (96 rec, 1,258 yards, 11 TD) which cut the deficit to three points as time expired. Brown finished with eight catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns in the game. If these two are not at their best against the Bengals, Pittsburgh could choose to lean heavily on RB Le’Veon Bell (1,046 rush yards, 3 TD). Bell was dominant against the Saints, rushing for 95 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, while also catching eight passes for 159 yards. He is on a tear recently and should be able to keep it up against this poor Bengals rushing defense. Pittsburgh will, however, need to patch its defense up. The Steelers allowed five touchdowns through the air last game and 143 yards on the ground against a Saints team that was struggling on offense heading into their matchup.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Bengals were able to pick up a big victory over the Buccaneers last week behind some solid play by their defense. Cincinnati held the Bucs to just 2-of-11 on third-down conversions and also allowed just 75 rushing yards in the game. They'll need to continue to focus on stopping the run as they’ve struggled to do so this season, and now face one of the premiere running backs in the NFL. QB Andy Dalton (2,589 pass yards, 13 TD, 13 INT) really struggled against the Bucs, throwing for just 176 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. He has not lived up to the expectations the team had for him when they gave him a massive contract extension this summer, but he could win some people over by finishing the season strong and guiding this team to an elusive playoff win. He’ll have a golden opportunity to get back on track against a Steelers defense that was picked apart a week ago. Top WR A.J. Green (45 rec, 686 yards, 5 TD) will need to be on his game in order to help Dalton in this one. He has caught a touchdown pass in two of the past three, and four of the past six games he’s played in. RBs Giovani Bernard (540 rush yards, 5 TD) and Jeremy Hill (683 rush yards, 6 TD) combined to rush for 89 yards last week. This duo will need to be more effective to take the pressure off the erratic Dalton.