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We've got a showdown between old NFC North rivals on this week's edition of "Monday Night Football." The Pittsburgh Steelers, losers of two consecutive games after beginning the season 11-0, are looking to get back on track against the division rival Cincinnati Bengals. 

Ben Roethlisberger and company are heavy favorites coming into the game, and with good reason. The Bengals are starting their third-string quarterback, their defense hasn't been able to stop anybody all year, and the Steelers have one of the best point-prevention units in football. 

In the interest of keeping things brief, let's break down the matchup.

How to watch

Date: Monday, Dec. 21 | Time: 8:15 p.m. ET
Location: Paul Brown Stadium (Cincinnati, Ohio)
TV: ESPN | Stream: fuboTV (try for free)
Follow: CBS Sports App

When the Steelers have the ball

The Steelers have designed an incredibly unusual offense this season. It's almost entirely based around short passes where Ben Roethlisberger sprays the ball to the perimeter like a point guard, with one receiver being the intended target of the play and the others acting as lead blockers. The Steelers have almost no running game to speak of, ranking 25th in attempts, 31st in yards and yards per carry, and 30th in DVOA despite employing one of the league's best offensive lines. They simply have not been able to generate much in the way of forward push up front, and none of their various running backs has been able to create all that many yards before or after contact. 

So, as we detailed a few weeks ago, you get a whole lot of stuff that looks like this: 

And this: 

And then very occasionally, Roethlisberger will take a shot deep down the field -- but almost always to the perimeter, working a one-on-one matchup. There are no deep posts or crossers or even seam routes, for the most part. Everything is short and quick to the outside, or deep and quick to the outside. It's very, very strange. 

All that said, it is just incredibly easy to move the ball against this Bengals defense. Cincinnati ranks 30th in yards allowed per play, 23rd in opponent's conversion rate on third down, and 29th in the percentage of opponent drives that have ended in a turnover. They very rarely get pressure on the opposing quarterback (31st) despite blitzing more often than the league average team (12th). You can throw on the Bengals (29th in DVOA) and you can run pretty well on them, too (18th). 

They have an incredibly talented corner in William Jackson III, but you can simply throw away from him and gain good yardage pretty much whenever you do so. The operative question here is not whether the Steelers will find offensive success, but how much, and how. Will they use the same strategy that they've been employing all season, or will a game against a relatively unchallenging opponent allowing for them to try some new things out and see if it can work as they move toward the postseason?

When the Bengals have the ball

Through 14 weeks, Cincinnati ranks 29th in yards, 30th in points, and 30th in offensive efficiency, per Football Outsiders' DVOA. They have the 31st-ranked run game and 26th-ranked pass game. But most of those rankings are reflective of their play with Joe Burrow and/or Brandon Allen at quarterback. Ryan Finley will be under center for this game, and what we have seen from him during his brief NFL career is... not encouraging. 

He's just 51 of 106 (48.1 percent) for 549 yards (5.2 per attempt), two touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 54.3 passer rating. The Bengals cannot run the ball hardly at all, and their offensive line cannot move defenders out of the way for runs or stop rushmen from getting to the quarterback. The Steelers, meanwhile, have what is likely the best defensive front in the league, and an incredibly turnover-happy secondary. This is not going to go very well for the Bengals, on really any level. 

It is best to simply acknowledge that the Bengals will occasionally touch the ball during this game, but the likelihood of them doing anything meaningful with those possessions is vanishingly low. Any analysis beyond that doesn't seem all that meaningful.

Prediction: Steelers 27, Bengals 3