PITTSBURGH — The Cincinnati Bengals spent 15 years trying to overcome bad drafts, bad hires and bad personnel decisions, and a reputation for being the last place many NFL players wanted to play.

The missteps were many, Akili Smith and David Klingler among them. The records were awful, with eight seasons of five or fewer victories. Meaningful games past mid-October were almost nonexistent.

But those were the Bengals' bad old days, and those days — at long last — look to be gone. These Bengals are winners, with a big lead in the AFC North and the playoffs awaiting, if only they can avoid turning back into the Bengals with a championship so near.

Even as they beat the Bears and the Vikings, the Texans and the Titans, they were looking for a signature game to certify their credentials. Now, a decade and a half since their last winning season and playoff appearance, they have it.

Bengals 38, Steelers 31. In Pittsburgh.

Finally, the Bengals have beaten the team that beats them like no other, one that had won 20 of their last 27 against them and had claimed eight division titles since Cincinnati last won one. As wide receiver Chad Johnson said, there's been a changing of the guard in the AFC North.

"They're like black and white TV," Johnson said. "We're like color TV."

In other words, the Steelers (7-5) traditionally win the old way, with a running game and a solid defense. The Bengals (9-3), at least lately, are the ones with the flash and the dash, the end zone dances, the attitude.

Now, the Bengals are the ones with the solid lead. After winning a big game in December for the first time since many of these current-day Bengals were in grade school, they lead the defending division champion Steelers by two games with four to play. Because of their superior division record, the Bengals' lead is effectively three games.

"It was a must-win game for us," Rudi Johnson said after running for 98 yards and scoring the Bengals' final two touchdowns. "We got it done in Pittsburgh, in cold weather, in a typical AFC North game. We got it done."

For the third consecutive week, the Steelers couldn't get it done, and now they're chasing a pack of AFC teams for a wild-card spot. They couldn't have envisioned this a few weeks ago when they were 7-2, or after they manhandled the Bengals 27-13 in Cincinnati on Oct. 23 to seemingly re-establish themselves as the AFC North team to beat.

Of course, back then, they couldn't have imagined the Bengals would play like the Steelers and the Steelers would play like the Bengals in the rematch.

It was Cincinnati that won with the solid running game, better special teams play and by creating turnovers, four to the none forced by Pittsburgh.

Brian Simmons' interception, one of three thrown by an injured Ben Roethlisberger, led to Carson Palmer's second touchdown pass of the game to T.J. Houshmandzadeh and a 21-14 lead. Tab Perry's 94-yard kickoff return down the Cincinnati sideline set up Rudi Johnson's 1-yard TD run and a 31-24 lead midway through the third the Bengals never lost.

Thanks to an ineffective running game (95 yards, compared to 221 earlier in Cincinnati) and a 14-point second-half deficit, Roethlisberger threw like never before. The quarterback who never passed 30 times last season went 29-of-41 for 386 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions.

That Roethlisberger did so with what may be a broken right thumb — one supported by a splint and protected by a glove — was exceptional. But it couldn't prevent a third Steelers loss in six home games, in a game wide receiver Hines Ward called a "must win."

So what does a team do when it doesn't win a must-win game?

"We've got to win all four we've got left," Ward said. "If we can get to 11-5 ..."

The Bengals are talking about sweeping their last four to secure at least one home playoff game.

"There's still a long way to go, we haven't talked much about it, but now we can quit hiding from it," coach Marvin Lewis said. "It's time to go sit in the front row."

Especially when they've been stuck in the back row for so long.

Notes:

Neither Roethlisberger nor coach Bill

Cowher would confirm the quarterback's thumb is broken. Roethlisberger was hurt in a 26-7 loss at Indianapolis on Monday. ... The Bengals have a 37-13 edge in takeaways this season, scoring 129 points off turnovers. ... Pittsburgh has lost three straight for the first time since dropping five in a row while going 6-10 in 2003. ... Roethlisberger had more passing yards in the first half (218) than he did in all but two full games earlier this season.