CINCINNATI — An inexperienced quarterback’s biggest ally is a stingy defense. The Bengals know it.

AJ McCarron will make only his fourth career start on Saturday night when the AFC North champions host the Pittsburgh Steelers.

No quarterback with so little experience has won an NFL playoff game since the 1979 season, when Gifford Nielsen led the Houston Oilers over the Chargers.

The subtext to that one: Houston’s defense picked off Dan Fouts five times to set up the win. The Bengals (12-4) would like to do something similar to ease the pressure on McCarron.

Cincinnati set a club record for fewest points allowed and led the AFC. Now it’s time to get really stingy.

“We just have to shorten the field and try to get some turnovers so we can put our offense in good positions to score points,” defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said.

The Bengals gave up a lot of yards and big plays this season, but were tough near the end zone. Cincinnati was 11th in yards allowed, but gave up only 279 points, second-fewest in the NFL. Seattle allowed 277.

In their two games against the Steelers (10-6), the Bengals limited Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown.

The Bengals picked off Roethlisberger three times during a 16-10 win in Pittsburgh on Nov. 1, Big Ben’s first game back from a knee injury. Brown, who set club records with 136 catches for 1,834 yards during the season, was limited to six catches for 47 yards.

Brown had seven catches for 87 yards in the Steelers’ 33-20 win at Paul Brown Stadium on Dec. 13, when Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton broke his passing thumb. McCarron replaced him in the first half and threw one interception that was returned for a touchdown and another that set up a touchdown.

The Bengals have contained Brown by disrupting his routes.