Good morning Bengals Nation. It's time to rise and shine. Grab yourself some coffee, donuts, or maybe something from Waffle House and get ready to head off to work before your co-workers notice that you aren't there and throw you under the bus by ratting you out to the boss. And if this doesn't apply to you then disregard all of the above.

Alright it's round two with the Steelers. Last time we all know what happened. The Bengals comeback attempt fell short as they lost 24-17. Andy Dalton had a decent game by passing for 170 yards and two touchdowns. The only downside was that he threw two interceptions as well. And more importantly, A.J. Green didn't play in the game. I have a feeling that if he was healthy enough to play then the Bengals would have won. That's just my opinion though.

This Sunday it's going to be vital for the Bengals to get off to a quick start. They cannot fall behind and let the Steelers get ahead by a large margin. If that happens then Cincinnati will have a tough road ahead of them for the remaining part of the game. The offense and defense need to show up from the beginning of the game and not wait until the second half to finally settle in. Fourth quarter comebacks against Pittsburgh are one of the toughest things to accomplish against them. 

As the week goes on and we know who all will be active for the game, we'll have a better understanding as to how the Bengals will perform. If they have all of their "key" players then it should be better match-up compared to the first time.

Alright here is what you may have missed or overlooked from Monday.

• Check out this weeks Monday Touchdown.
• Bengals' Geno Atkins leads all NFL defensive tackles in sacks. His hard work is paying off.
•  Keith Rivers' time up on PUP is over and the Bengals now have less than 24-hours to decide what to do with him.
• During the past three weeks the Bengals have faced the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, and Cleveland Browns. During those games the Bengals have entered the fourth quarter trailing each opponent. The Bengals are good enough to come back from a deficit against Cleveland, but not against Pittsburgh or Baltimore. The Bengals can't repeat that this week.
• It's time for the Week 12 Caption Contest.
• For some reason Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis has been uncharacteristically "gushy" over rookie wide receiver A.J. Green. Who can blame him though? Green has been amazing this season.
• If the season ended today there would be three teams from the AFC North in the playoffs.
• Cincinnati gained their seventh victory on Sunday against the Browns and here's what everyone is saying after their win.