PITTSBURGH — One week ago, the Steelers played a 2-8 Browns team that had nothing to lose. They went for it on fourth down four times and converted all four opportunities in their 24-19 upset win.

On Sunday, the Steelers play a desperate Bengals team that is in must-win mode after losing three of their past four to fall to 4-7. The NFL calendar says the playoffs begin in the second week of January, but for the Bengals, they start this week.

That can make for some challenging situations for the Steelers, who go into Sunday's game aware that risky calls are more plausible given what's at stake for the Bengals.

"I think the amount of analytics involved in football now, some of these fourth downs where people think, 'Why are they doing it?' really fall into the category of you should go for it because the percentages are in your favor," Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said Thursday following practice. "Sometimes teams are risk-averse, but when you have a team that's really trying to get after it, it makes complete sense to go for it. That's where we were last week. We were really good on third downs and not good enough on fourth downs to get ourselves off the field. Those are like turnovers."

The Bengals might be on the cusp of playoff elimination, but it's not because of their offense. The Steelers will face one of their most challenging weeks against Joe Burrow and his high-powered offense.

The Bengals are sixth in the league in scoring, averaging 27 points per game. They've scored 33 points or more in six of their 11 games, including three times in their past four games.

If not for the Bengals' record, Burrow would be in the MVP conversation. He's third in the league in passing yards and has thrown 27 touchdowns to only four interceptions.

Ja'Marr Chase leads all NFL receivers in yards (1,056) and touchdowns (12). Tee Higgins, who has missed five games due to injuries, is healthy again and coming off a 148-yard game in a 34-27 loss to the Chargers.

The Steelers have struggled to generate pressure at their normal rate — they had just one sack against the Browns — and they know they'll need to get after Burrow if they don't want to watch him light up the scoreboard.

"Four-man pressure, five-man pressure, whatever we have to do because he is elite at extending plays and buying time," defensive end Cam Heyward said. "With his two receivers, when you give them just a crease, they are going to make big plays."

The Bengals are in dire straits due to their leaky defense and an inability to win close games. They have played seven games decided by one score, and they're 1-6 in those games.

They lost to the Chargers when they gave up a 29-yard touchdown run with 18 seconds remaining in the game, and they lost to the Chiefs when Harrison Butker kicked a 51-yard field goal on the final play of the game.

They've lost to the Ravens twice by a combined four points, with one game decided in overtime and the other by a failed two-point conversion try with 38 seconds remaining.

The Steelers, conversely, are 5-3 in games decided by one score, but they gave up the winning touchdown to the Browns with 57 seconds remaining. It was the third time in their past seven games the defense gave up a late touchdown. They lost two of those games and hung on for a win against the Ravens when their two-point try with 1:07 left failed.

"We just didn't make some plays," Austin of the Browns' final drive. "We had them in 3rd-and-7 and then we had them on a fourth down. We had some opportunities. We just didn't get it done. We know we're not going to be able to do it every time, but more often than not we've stood up to the challenge. We just weren't able to get it done last week."

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