No passing fancy

They tried press coverage and man-to-man, five-defensive backs “nickel” packages and the six-defensive backs “dime.” They even blitzed in a determined attempt to shut down the Bengals’ passing game from Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow’s end of the equation.

None of it worked often enough or well enough.

“It was a little bit of everything,” Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin acknowledged after practice today. “It was zones, it was mans, it was doubles, you name it, and it didn’t happen for us.

“We gotta do a better job coaching ’em to get ’em there to make the plays and then when they get there they gotta make ’em.”

Burrow connected with wide receiver Tee Higgins nine times on 13 targets last Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. Higgins produced 148 receiving yards on those nine receptions.

For the Steelers, the Bengals’ 37-30 victory became, among other things, the continuation of a frustrating trend.

Higgins’ 100-yard day was the seventh such effort against the Steelers in 10 games.

It started with the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase, who amassed 10 catches and 129 receiving yards in the Steelers’ 23-20 overtime win in the regular-season opener on Sept. 11 in Cincinnati.

The final game prior to the Steelers’ bye, a 35-13 loss on Oct. 30 in Philadelphia, saw the Eagles’ A.J. Brown collect six catches for 156 yards and three touchdowns.

In between, the Bills’ Gabe Davis exploded for 171 yards on three receptions, including touchdown catches of 98 and 62 yards, in a 38-3 loss on Oct. 9 in Buffalo (Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs added 102 receiving yards and a touchdown on eight grabs).

Overall ,the Steelers’ pass defense is allowing an NFL-worst average of 272.1 passing yards per game.

“There’s been a lot of times we’ve been in position to make the plays and we’re not making the plays,” Austin said. “So a lot of balls that a lot of times go down as 50-50 balls, we’re losing the majority of those. We have to get better at winning them. When we get in position to win those 50-50…