CINCINNATI — Hines Ward felt the urge to dance.

The Steelers receiver doesn't usually celebrate touchdowns by kicking up his cleats, but this was a special occasion. Pittsburgh was thoroughly outplaying Chad Johnson's upstart Bengals in front of a record Cincinnati crowd.

Now, Ward would try to outdance him, too.

"I didn't know how to do it," said Ward, who caught the clinching touchdown in a 27-13 victory Sunday. "You could see I was a bad Riverdancer."

Ward's unrehearsed jig was the only awkward moment for the Steelers (4-2), who got the victory they needed to prevent the Bengals (5-2) from waltzing away with their division. Pittsburgh controlled the game by rushing for 221 yards, and its defense made Carson Palmer look ordinary for the first time since the last time they met.

Cincinnati still leads the division by a half-game, but the standings are misleading. The lopsided outcome proved that the AFC North is still Steelers country.

"It's a great win not only for our team but for our organization, putting ourselves back on the map where we wanted to be," Ward said.

Cincinnati again got put in its place by the team that keeps beating it down. The Bengals have lost six of their last seven and nine of their last 11 against the Steelers, a dominance that transcends time and place.

"I don't think Pittsburgh is that much better than us," said Palmer, who's 0-3 against the Steelers. "I think we're a better team, but we just didn't play well enough today."

The Steelers have a knack for winning tough games in tough places. After a sluggish start, they dominated in front of a Cincinnati-record crowd of 66,104 that expected to see a changing of the guard on a wet, raw afternoon.

Instead, Pittsburgh set a franchise record with its 10th straight road victory.

"We've been playing pretty good on the road every week," linebacker Joey Porter said. "We've got the target on us, and it was no different today even though they were the hot team coming in."

Nobody was hotter than Palmer.

The second-year starter had tied Peyton Manning's record of nine consecutive games with a passer rating of more than 100, and was looking to go one better. He hadn't thrown an interception since the second week, and led the league in touchdown passes and completion percentage.Things looked good at the outset. On the game's first possession, Palmer threw a 16-yard pass to a diving Johnson that was initially ruled a touchdown. The flamboyant receiver did a giddy high-step for his latest celebration.He danced too soon. The Steelers challenged the call, and referee Tony Corrente overturned it, concluding that Johnson got only one foot down before his hand landed out of bounds.Rookie Chris Henry then dropped a pass in the end zone, and Shayne Graham missed a 30-yard field goal attempt."It was huge," lamented Palmer, who was 21-of-36 for 227 yards with two interceptions and a measly 53.8 passer rating.Pittsburgh took it from there. Willie Parker ran for 131 yards, including a 37-yard touchdown, and Jerome Bettis bowled through defenders for 56 yards. The Steelers had their way against a defense that gives up 4.9 yards per carry, making things easy for Ben Roethlisberger.Back after missing one game with a hyperextended knee, Roethlisberger had to throw only 14 times in his role as middleman — get the ball from center Jeff Hartings, give it to the nearest running back. Roethlisberger completed nine passes, two for touchdowns."Our running game was clicking, and that is our strength," Roethlisberger said. "That is what we do. We run the ball and we play aggressive defense."Notes:Roethlisberger threw his first interception of the season in the third quarter. Palmer's two interceptions were his first in 20 quarters and 169 passes. ... The Steelers held Rudi Johnson to 65 yards, extending their streak to 18 games without allowing a 100-yard rusher. Johnson was the last to do it. ... Chad Johnson had four catches for 94 yards, and critiqued Ward's dance steps. "We laughed about it after the game. I told him it wasn't very good," Johnson said.