What others are saying about Bengals 20-10 win over the Steelers

+ Paul Daugherty with the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote that the Bengals needed Monday Night's win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

You don’t erase a few generations of Ls in one prime-time evening. Banishing demons is not a three-hour job. It might never be done. The process has to start sometime, though.

+ Coley Harvey with ESPN's Bengals blog agrees.

We're only two weeks into the regular season, but already the AFC North race is beginning to take the shape that most anticipated during the offseason. With the Steelers and Browns now both sitting at 0-2, the Bengals and Ravens are beginning to look like the division's true leaders. Monday night's game was important for both teams involved, but it could arguably be considered an even bigger deal for the Bengals, a team eager to legitimize itself and to prove the preseason chatter wasn't really all "Hard Knocks"-fueled hype.

Harvey adds a nice piece on Giovani Bernard, as did Paul Dehner Jr. with the Cincinnati Enquirer.

"I saw green grass and once you see green grass you got to take it," he said. "There's not that many opportunities you get like that and not too many chances you get like that. Once you get that chance, once they bust coverage or whatever it is, you just got to take advantage of it and get it in the end zone."

+ Dalton was at his best when throwing to receivers running short routes. On passes five yards off the line of scrimmage, Dalton completed 17 of 20 passes for 134 yards, according to ESPN's Stats and Information.

+ Chris Burke with Sports Illustrated writes that the Bengals are better suited for a title today and into the future.

The Bengals are far from a finished product. They have plenty of their own issues, right down to an inconsistent Dalton, who never really managed to find a rhythm Monday. But make no mistake: As things stand, after Week 2 of the 2013 season, Cincinnati is better set up to contend for a title than are the Steelers, both now and for the immediate future.

+ Gregg Doyel with CBSSports.com writes that the Bengals and Steelers have swapped identities.

For one night, if not for a whole lot longer, the Bengals have become the Steelers. And the Steelers, bless 'em, have become the Bengals. Where this reversal of fortune goes from here, who's to say -- but where it went Monday night was into the victory column for Cincinnati, a 20-10 defeat of their AFC North nemesis in front of 64,585 fans at Paul Brown Stadium.

+ The Laces Out blog at FoxSports.com writes:

The fear of an 0-2 start was at stake — and inevitable — Monday night as both the Steelers and Bengals lost in Week 1. The host Bengals, a trendy Super Bowl pick heading into the season, do what the Steelers are supposed to do — ride a strong defense, a dependable QB and a powerful running game — to beat the Steelers 20-10 at Paul Brown Stadium and hand Pittsburgh its first 0-2 start since 2002