The Steelers got off to a glacial start in Cincinnati, but the defense found its footing in the second half to shut down Andy Dalton and the Bengals.

Most of the credit goes to Steelers second-year kicker Chris Boswell, who striped six field goals to help Pittsburgh to its fifth consecutive victory, and some of the credit goes to Bengals running back Jeremy Hill (more on that below).

To recap: Boswell was a perfect 6 of 6 on field goal attempts, converting from 45, 49, 49, 40, 49 and 30 yards. Oh, and he saved a touchdown, too:

Boswell ties Jeff Reed (2002) and Gary Anderson (1988) for the franchise-best mark.

The Steelers dominated the final 30 minutes and prevailed 24-20, their seventh victory in their past eight trips to Cincinnati.

Meanwhile, in the two-plus quarters since Hill thought attacking a Terrible Towel was a good idea ...

... this happened:

The curse of T.J. Houshmandzadeh remains strong in Cincy.

In the locker room afterward, the Steelers were predictably unimpressed with Hill's antics.

"Anybody that's grabbed it has had something unfortunate happen," guard Ramon Foster said, via ESPN.com's Jeremy Fowler. "I hate to say the towel is cursed when you disrespect it, but you can't do that. That's too early in the game to be doing that type of stuff. He's a pro. I'm sure his coaches would take to him."

Linebacker Ryan Shazier added: "[Hill] came back in the second half, I guess he didn't have any talk. He thought he was going to come back and run us like he had been doing in the first half -- we understand we had to stand up. Whenever he came our way, we just had to shut him down."

And safety Mike Mitchell went with the Crying Jordan meme:


The Steelers remain atop the AFC North but a Christmas night showdown with the Ravens will almost certainly determine the division winner.