With the victory over their hated rival in Western Pennsylvania, the Bengals increased their regular season record to 9-6 and finished 6-2 in road games, clinching a winning season and playoff spot for the third time in the last four seasons and also clinching consecutive winning seasons and playoff berths for the first time since 1981 and 1982 seasons. By improving to 5-7 at Heinz Field, Cincinnati defeated the Steelers for the first time since 2009 when they won the AFC North after going 6-0 against their three rivals. This was the first time since 1988 when the Bengals would have a successful two-week road trip in Pennsylvania. Due to the Ravens clinching the AFC North following a victory over the Giants a few hours later, the Bengals were assigned to one of the two wild card seeds along with the Indianapolis Colts (10-5). With the Colts' victory over the Chiefs that day, the Bengals were given the 6th seed since the Colts had a better record than them against common opponents (4-1 vs. 3-2).. How many more games had Cincinnati lost than won at Heinz Field?