Ben Roethlisberger throws pick-six to ex-teammate Mike Hilton as Bengals trash Steelers

The Cincinnati Bengals have existed since 1968 in the old American Football League. And in their entire history, the Bengals had never scored more than 27 points in the first half of a game.

Until Sunday. When the Bengals and Steelers headed to their locker rooms at the half, Cincinnati was up 31-3 on Pittsburgh. Most likely, the Bengals will sweep their AFC North rivals for the first time since 2009 (they beat Pittsburgh 24-10 in Week 3), and this has been an embarrassment for Mike Tomlin’s team on both sides of the ball. Tomlin’s usually stout defense had very few answers for Cincinnati’s offense, and Ben Roethlisberger threw two first-half interceptions to help things along.

The second pick, thrown to former Steelers cornerback Mike Hilton, was particularly worrisome.

Roethlisberger had pressure in his face, so he couldn’t step into the throw to receiver James Washington. As a result, the throw was a wounded duck that wound up in the hands of Hilton, and Hilton returned it for a 24-yard touchdown.

Throws like that — and there have been a lot of them today — will only add to the perception that it’s about time for Roethlisberger to hang ’em up at the end of the season.