PITTSBURGH — For three frigid hours on Sunday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers looked like the team cornerback Ike Taylor thought it would be all along.

Explosive plays on special teams. An effective if at times unspectacular offense. A defense that kept the dynamic Cincinnati Bengals under wraps until the game had all but been decided.

Watching how easily the Steelers whipped the Bengals 30-20, Taylor understands the inclination to look around and wonder why this didn’t happen oh, say, three months ago. Pittsburgh labored through a winless September that doomed its postseason chances before the leaves changed color.

Taylor just doesn’t buy into wondering “what if.” He’s been around too long. The Steelers earned all eight of their losses just like they earned all six of their wins.

“Ain’t no woulda, couldas,” Taylor said. “The NFL is reality. It’s a humbling sport. Yeah, you have your ups and downs. This year, for the most part in a few words we’ve been consistently inconsistent. When you play in the NFL you’ve got to be consistent.”

A concept Pittsburgh has been unable to grasp. The Steelers looked very much primed for a January run when they humbled the surging Bengals (9-5) in front of a national audience. Yet it came just a week after the Steelers let the Miami Dolphins frolic in the snow in a 34-28 victory that all mathematically eliminated Pittsburgh from the playoffs with three games left.

“The one thing you know is they don’t let you play it over again,” safety Ryan Clark said. “You don’t get the Tennessee Titans game back, you don’t get the Oakland Raiders game back ... For us, it’s about taking it week by week. We won this week, it’s a good feeling.”

The kind of feeling the Steelers expected to have more often this fall.

Instead, they bottled most of that emotion and saved it for the Bengals. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger shaved the beard he’d worn for the last two months and sprinted to midfield during player introductions like something more than simply avoiding the franchise’s first losing season in a decade was on the line.

Slow starts have been an issue all fall for Pittsburgh, which entered Sunday being outscored 77-43 in the first quarter. The Steelers narrowed the deficit considerably with an overwhelming 15 minutes. That hardly made it seem like they were counting the days until the offseason begins.

Safety Will Allen tackled Bengals punter Kevin Huber after a mishandled snap to set up the Steelers at the Cincinnati 1. Two plays later, Le’Veon Bell was in the end zone with his sixth touchdown rushing of the season.

A few minutes later, Roethlisberger loitered in the pocket for nearly 10 seconds before finding Antonio Brown for a 12-yard touchdown reception.