NBC Sports’ Cris Collinsworth will call Sunday’s biggest NFL game, as the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2) travel to the Queen City to face the Cincinnati Bengals (6-2) in an AFC North divisional showdown.
Pittsburgh won the first meeting over a month ago, 30-27, in a game that went right down to the wire.
Now, this one will be for the outright lead in the division. It also marks the first time Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow will play a primetime home game against a division opponent. Every other time, he’s had to go on the road.
Collinsworth Makes Strong Statement on Burrow
On Thursday, Collinsworth joined First Word With James Rapien and shared his thoughts on Burrow.
“He works very hard at his craft and you can tell that. But he’s basically taken this entire team on his shoulders,” Collinsworth said. “And I think everybody down there would tell you that. And from just analyzing football, like in my mind, it’s always been you’ve got to have a little bit of everything. You’ve gotta play defense, you’ve gotta be able to run it, you’ve gotta be able to throw it. But maybe it’s like maybe they just do have to throw it…. why would you not give it to Joe Burrow and throw it every time cause they’re just so good at it.”
Burrow’s 2026 Season With Bengals
In his seventh season with Cincinnati, Burrow is on pace to have his best year yet. And he firmly has put himself in the MVP conversation without question.
He enters Sunday night completing 74.0% of his passes, which leads the NFL, for 2,386 yards and 23 touchdown passes, which also leads the league.
This week, he acknowledged the importance of the matchup against Pittsburgh and noted that it’s one of the biggest games the Bengals have played as a franchise in quite some time.
“This is as big of a game as we’ve had here for awhile,” Burrow said earlier this week. “Lost to them earlier in the season… for first place outright. Huge game.”
Cris Collinsworth Makes Strong Statement on Bengals QB Joe Burrow