PITTSBURGH _ If all you saw was the last play of the Bengals' 30-27 loss here Sunday to the Steelers, that's all you needed to see.

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who kept his team in it the whole day, had the ball punched out of his hands as he dropped back to from pass from the Pittsburgh 38 with 44 seconds left as yet another chance slid away.

"It hurts," said Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, who saw his team lose for the first time all year in the six preseason and regular-season games. "Because you feel like we have every opportunity to win it and we didn't do it."

The Bengals committed two special team' gaffes in the second half after they had forced the Steeles to punt. Defensive end Cedric Johnson’s roughing the punter penalty when they were leading, 20-17,  in the third quarter, and wide receiver Ke’Shawn Williams’ fumbled punt when they were leading, 27-24, with 10:52 left in the game, translated to 10 points.

The turnovers revived quarterback Aaron Rodgers' offense, and he hit tight end Darnell Washington on a 47-yard run-and catch, and running back Jaylen Warren followed it up with a 26-yard run on the way to Chris Boswell's winning 33-yard field goal with 2:15 left.

"All three phases share in that," Taylor said. "We had a chance to score on offense, had a chance to get a stop on defense, and we had a couple of plays on special teams that we didn't make."

Seamless Joe

Burrow played especially well. He hit his first 14 passes, 18-of-21 by halftime, and finished with three touchdowns on 28-of-37 for 282 yards and the highest passer rating of his career against Pittsburgh at 123..9

And they were going for a touchdown with 44 seconds left.

"We were trying to take a shot into the end zone," Burrow said. "We were in field-goal range, so we're trying not to take a sack. I was just trying to get the ball out."

It looked like he was trying to fling the ball, but a split-second before he could, the ball was punched out by defensive tackle Derrick Harmon and recovered by edge Sebastian Day-Joseph.

"I was trying to pass the ball," Burrow said of a play confirmed on the field.

"Not good enough … We have to play more sound football than that to beat a team like that."

More Dex

Bengals defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II introduced himself into the Bengals-Steelers rivalry with style. He hit Rodgers three times and got him twice for his first Bengals sacks, and the last one was in the red zone that forced the winning field goal with 2:15 left.

"I think we made a lot of mistakes and that kept the game close," Lawrence said when asked about the Steelers' plan. "A lot of what was going on was self-inflicted. You watched the game. You know what happened. I don't think it's anything special they had going. We just didn't do it."

Lawrence also had some captain-esque words.

"I know who we are. I know the men we have in here," Lawrence said. "I have no doubt that when we come to practice next week, we'll be locked in, eliminate mistakes and correct the ones we made."

Slants and Screens

In the T.J. Watt Era, it's hard to find a Bengals offensive line protecting a quarterback any better than it did for Burrow Sunday. And after getting sacked once and that on the last play of the game, he thought they were "really good." And, like Higgins asked, "How many yards Joe throw for?" That would be a season-high 282 …

Higgins had 90 of them on six catches in what is fast becoming his career year ...

"You might say that," Higgins said when asked if that's his first touchdown catch sitting down after he was virtually wrestled to the ground by cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. "I just tried to use my size (6-4) and basketball skills to box him out.

"That's just Nine making a play, giving me a chance. They drafted me to make plays like that, so I do." ...

Higgins' running mate Ja'Marr Chase continued to make ridiculously clutch plays. In that last drive, he danced for catches of 17 and 13 yards with everyone in the building knowing Burrow was looking for him as he finished with nine catches for 98 yards and his third touchdown of the season.

"Today," Chase said, "just protect the football and eliminate the penalties and other than that, we win the football game. It's something we can control. It's in our hands." ...

It looked like Jordan Battle’s interception with 1:40 left in the first half and the Bengals trailing, 17-10, would be the play of the game in a Bengals win. With Rodgers within eight yards of a field goal, his pass bounced of the hands of wide receiver Roman Wilson into Battle's hands for the Bengals' first interception of the season.

With Rodgers still screaming at Wilson, Burrow launched a 28-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tee Higgins, who made that remarkable grab while sitting down with 34 seconds left in the half to tie the game. When the Bengals received the second-half kickoff and tacked on Evan McPherson’s 20th straight field goal, they had doubled up for a 20-17 lead.

"You have to make that play if you want to win games like this," Battle said ."It's good to get momentum like that, but we gave up too many explosives and didn't get enough guys on the ground." …

Safety Bryan Cook came out early with an ankle injury, but had to go back in on the last drive when Kyle Dugger got hurt on Warren's run ….