Cincinnati Bengals vs Pittsburgh Steelers, Week 3 2026

Bengals vs Steelers is the oldest kind of AFC North Sunday, except that Pittsburgh's sideline now holds a coach and a quarterback who won a Super Bowl together somewhere else. Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers are running an offense in the same building again, eight years after Green Bay ended.

Kickoff is 1:00 PM ET on Sunday, September 27, the same clock in both cities. From the opening snap this page stops being a preview and starts working: live score, game leaders, box scores, play-by-play with the game flow chart and team statistics, updating on their own.

Bengals vs Steelers also brings a Cincinnati offense that finally looks whole again.

Bengals vs Steelers Start Time, TV Channel and Live Stream

Date	Sunday, September 27, 2026
Kickoff	1:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM CT / 11:00 AM MT / 10:00 AM PT
TV	CBS
Venue	Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh
Downtown garages	$5, then ride the T
Home team	Pittsburgh Steelers

CBS carries Bengals vs Steelers in the early Sunday window, a regional assignment, so the market map decides and Sunday Ticket handles the rest. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are both on Eastern time and about four hours apart by road, which is why this one travels well.

Rodgers and McCarthy Are Back Together

McCarthy took the Pittsburgh job this offseason and inherited the quarterback he coached for a decade in Green Bay. Their reunion was literal in the preseason opener, when the Steelers hosted the Packers and both men faced their old team for the first time from the same sideline.

The pairing is the point. McCarthy built his reputation on quarterback teaching, first with young ones and then with veterans, and Rodgers is the most extreme version of the second category. Camp ran at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe from August 1, and Bengals vs Steelers is the first divisional read on what came out of it.

Joe Burrow Looks Like Himself Again

Burrow spent last season fighting a grade three turf toe. This camp he opened the Friday night stadium practice with a 50 yard throw to Ja'Marr Chase and went 16 of 25 in the joint work against Chicago, including red zone touchdowns to Tee Higgins and Mike Gesicki.

The line in front of him held up too, giving him time on nearly every dropback in the later sessions. Cincinnati has called this the most physical camp the current roster can remember, and Chase spent much of it matched against DJ Turner, which is the kind of daily argument that sharpens both. Bengals vs Steelers is where all of that meets a defense that does not care.

Bengals vs Steelers: The Rest

Cincinnati spent its money on defense. The offseason went almost entirely to the side of the ball that cost the Bengals games last year, and this is an early audit of it.

Joe Flacco is the insurance. He backs up Burrow, which is a lot of experience for a second chair.

Nineteen years ended in Pittsburgh. McCarthy is the first Steelers head coach since 2007 not named Mike Tomlin.

Rosters are set. The cut to 53 passed on August 30. Follow the Bengals and Steelers pages, and watch the AFC North standings take shape. The rest of the slate is on the 2026 NFL schedule.

Park Downtown and Ride the T

The North Shore lots fill early and cost accordingly, so the move the Steelers themselves point to is parking in the Golden Triangle, where seven Pittsburgh Parking Authority garages charge $5, then taking the T under the river to North Side or Allegheny Station. The light rail can move roughly 8,000 fans on a game day, most of them boarding at Allegheny.

If you would rather drive in, the Champions Garage between Acrisure Stadium and PNC Park added more than 400 spaces at West General Robinson Street and Tony Dorsett Drive, and the club recommends booking ahead through JustPark rather than circling the North Shore an hour before Bengals vs Steelers. The Acrisure Stadium parking and directions page has the lot map and the traffic guide.

Bengals vs Steelers FAQ

Bengals vs Steelers is a division opener with a healthy Burrow on one side and a reunited coach and quarterback on the other, which is more intrigue than this rivalry usually needs. Come back on game day for inactives and the live score.

Last updated: August 27, 2026