“A Change is Gonna Come,” the Sam Cooke song, was playing in a continuous loop from the locker room of the Bengals and provided the theme song for Cincinnati’s groundbreaking win.

The Bengals, during five very frenetic minutes, earned a measure of legitimacy and won their town back.

With only 14 seconds remaining, a touchdown pass of 4 yards from Carson Palmer to Andre Caldwell gave the Bengals a 23-20 victory on Sunday, ending Pittsburgh’s almost decade long domination over Cincinnati during a game where it appeared that it would continue indefinitely before the final drive.

Bobbie Williams, offensive lineman of the Bengals said, priceless. Our past is just the past. It’s a new team now and it’s a new day.

It was the Bengals day for once.

The Steelers (1-2) had won their past eight games at the home field of the Bengals. Cincinnati had not defeated Pittsburgh in Paul Brown Stadium since 2001, the rookie year of Chad Ochocinco, who then only started on rare occasions and was still going by the last name of Johnson.

Chad doesn’t remember too much from the game long ago. Cincinnati (2-1) won’t be forgetting this one anytime soon.

A majority of the game was dominated by the Super Bowl champs. However they wasted opportunities for putting Cincinnati away. Another field goal was missed by Jeff Reed, and a pass was dropped inside the end zone by Limas Sweed to keep the game close all the way until the end.

Hines Ward, Steelers receiver said, if we had scored those first half touchdowns, it wouldn’t have been a game. It would have been 24-3 or 24-0. It’s not good. You need to put the seven points up instead of three to finish off a team.

The Bengals instead finished the Steelers off.

Cincinnati was led by Palmer on a 71 yard, 16 play drive versus one of the best defenses in the league. He repeatedly was able to convert his throws on there or else. An 11 yard pass to Brian Leonard, running back, on fourth down and 10 advanced the football down to the 4 yard line. After he spiked the ball to stop the game clock, Palmer connected with a wide open Caldwell in the end zone.

Marvin Lewis, Bengals coach said, our quarterback is comfortable during those points of a game. He has a calmness about him.

The drive was similar to the long touchdown drive Palmer had during the season opener versus the Broncos towards the end of the game, which Denver was able to salvage with a tipped touchdown catch of 87 yards. However this time there wasn’t any weirdness.

The final Roethlisberger frantic heave got knocked down to give Cincinnati the game that they saw as an opportunity for proving they are a contender for the AFC North.

Tank Johnson, defensive lineman said, it’s huge. This football team is very good. If we can eliminate immature mistakes, then the sky’s the limit.

It was no small task to defeat Pittsburgh at home. Steelers fans by the thousands were amongst the 64,538 crowd, waving yellow towels practically nonstop while Pittsburgh dominated the game, but failed repeatedly to take advantage on numerous scoring opportunities.

In the end, Pittsburgh’s defense was unable to make a critical defensive play to finish the Bengals off. It was reminiscent of how the Steelers failed to make two field goals during the second half in Chicago, allowing the Bears to pull a 17-14 victory out by hitting a field goal during the last 15 seconds of the game.

Brett Keisel, defensive end said, we try to make those plays and be a really great defense. It will be a very long year, unless we start to make them.

Santonio Holmes and Roethlisberger miscommunicated during the third play of the third quarter. Roethlisberger threw the ball quickly, but Holmes kept going. Johnathan Joseph, cornerback, intercepted the pass and ran the ball back 30 yards to score the touchdown and make it a football game.

Roethlisberger went 22 for 31 for a total of 276 passing yards, along with a touchdown pass of 39 yards to Willie Parker as well as a scoring quarterback sneak of one yard. Near midfield he was sacked on third down as the Steelers were trying to protect their 20-15 lead. It gave Cincinnati a final opportunity with 5:14 left to play in the game.

It was all the Bengals needed.

Palmer, who went 20 for 37 passing for a total of 183 yards said, it was indescribable. The fans wanted the game just as much as us. It felt really good to see their hands go up to signal the touchdown and to hear them roar.

Pittsburgh hasn’t started at 1-2 since 2006, which was the last time the Steelers were coming into the season after winning the Super Bowl. That season they started 1-3 and ended at 8-8 while missing the playoffs. The Steelers, after losing two games in a row at the last minute, are discovering once more how tough it really can be to be the defending champs.

Roethlisberger said, we felt like we defeated ourselves.