The Cincinnati Bengals are just another team and played just another game in Week 7 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Excuse the blandness — emotion and fire aren’t at an all-time high in Cincinnati right now.

Marvin Lewis’ Bengals went down hard, of course, 29-14 to make it five losses in a row and eight of nine against the Steelers. But to be fair, the result seemed telegraphed like an Andy Dalton deep prayer in A.J. Green’s direction based on the pre-game comments.

“I don’t know,” Lewis told reporters before the game. “Division games get weighted a little heavier, but at the end of the season, they’re all just one football game. If go 0-6 in your division and win your others, you have a chance. They don’t have as much bearing.”

One more to point out how much guys bought into Lewis’ canned theme, available on the shelf of coaching cliches in every chain store.

“I don’t feel nothin’ special right now,” Dre Kirkpatrick said, per Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “It’s just a normal game. What we had the last two weeks is where we need to be at.”

But this wasn’t the last two games — a thumping of the Cleveland Browns and a dismissal of an overperforming Buffalo Bills team.

It was the Pittsburgh Steelers, the measuring stick the Bengals can’t stand tip-toed and graze anymore.

What happened to the team leaders in Pittsburgh? A list:

A.J. Green got shut down and had another pick bounce off his hands.

Geno Atkins had one of his worst games in recent memory.

Vontaze Burfict, instead of bringing attitude, targeted a fullback with kicks and slaps while getting out-tackled by Pat Sims.

Dre Kirkpatrick summed up the team’s longstanding, non-Leon Hall secondary tackling issues in one everlasting Twitter gif.

Andy Dalton, though admittedly after getting the tar beat out of him, lofted a pass out of bounds on fourth down with the game on the line.

The entire special-teams unit got punked on a fake punt. The broadcast picked up Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin laughing it up afterwards — he knows he can get away with it against this team and has for years.

Disclaimer — Lewis’ “this is just another game” approach that spread like an infection throughout the locker room might be a way for him to reel in some of the wilder personalities and have them playing calmly.

But it doesn’t work if the team spanking you up and down the field for the better part of four years takes it seriously anyway, treating it far more than just another game. It doesn’t work if the Steelers view the Bengals the way the Bengals view the Browns and the Steelers still dominate them.

It isn’t just another game.

The aftermath was even less fun. Almost wondering aloud, Mixon wanted to know why he didn’t get to touch the football over eight drives and 24 plays in the second half:

And more Mixon:

I feel like I could do way more than (Bell) did. I only got seven carries. I can't showcase nothing if I don't get the ball — Jay Morrison (@JayMorrisonCMG) October 23, 2017

Lewis’ explanation? This:

Marvin Lewis asked why Joe Mixon didn't get a carry in the second half: "He was in (the game)…whatever plays are called are called." — Joe Danneman (@FOX19Joe) October 22, 2017

It’s almost as if the basic fundamentals of this regime are regressing, too. The Bengals took this big character risk and reopened old scabs by drafting Mixon and had P.R. messaging ready to go as the Band-Aids because of his talent.

Now this.

And we’re not done yet. Lewis didn’t take kindly to Mixon pointing out what everyone was wondering:

On Mixon wanting the ball: he should show maturity. We’re not going to create a run down 12 — Geoff Hobson (@GeoffHobsonCin) October 23, 2017

Before we wrap up the post-game angle, let’s fast foward to Lewis explaining why the ineffective Jeremy Hill gets the nod before Mixon to start games and out of halftime:

On Hill starting game and half: good chance for Mixon to watch and learn — Geoff Hobson (@GeoffHobsonCin) October 23, 2017

Then we’ll roll to Bill Lazor, who pointed yet another finger in yet another direction:

Bill Lazor on the same question: "I don't have any answer. Playing time typically goes to Marvin.." — Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) October 24, 2017

But this is all funny, really. Remember when these very same Bengals started 0-2 without scoring a touchdown and the team fired offensive coordinator Ken Zampese?

That was a product of Green speaking out after he went largely ignored late in a loss.

And Lewis, at least at the time, admitted Zampese wasn’t getting it done, per the Associated Press: “He plays a position where sometimes it’s a little harder (to get him the ball), so we’ve got to be creative to provide opportunity to do that.”

So not only have the Bengals fallen right back into this same problem after Green didn’t have a catch in the second half against the Steelers, now the same issues — if not worse — have hit the running back spot with Mixon.

But none of this is really a surprise, is it? This is the same old team with Lewis at the helm and the culture failing to evolve.

This is the team with a quarterback still misfiring on slants. Team with a front office that doesn’t value guards, then gets steamrolled by one of the league’s best, David DeCastro. Team that is pointing fingers and being combative while excusing ignoring Green and Mixon because they only got to run 51 plays. Team with failures in scouting and coaching in the offensive trenches, trading up for an ineffective center on draft day, drafting two tackles and watching as great linemen slipped away before hitting the panic button and asking a career right tackle and retread to rotate on both edges. Team with the desperation to fire an offensive coordinator midseason for the first time in its 50-year existence, only to turn around and repeat the same mistakes a few weeks later — after a bye.

Keep in mind this is a team only looking strong to start games because it relies on a scripting system — once the script ends, the wheels fall off:

Did anyone really think the culture was suddenly going to do a 180 as the roster got younger and lost leaders like Andrew Whitworth and Domata Peko?

Oh, and on that note, maybe the front office knew something we didn’t when it came to sticking by veterans like Peko for locker-room purposes, much to the chagrin of fans.

Look around the league. Football can be more fun elsewhere, promise. Those Tom Brady temper tantrums and Bill Belichick smashing Windows tablets and Aaron Rodgers slamming stuff and heck, even the Eli Manning faces make for hilarious memes until you realize the moments come from sheer unadulterated fire in the heat of the moment — and Bengals fans get the broadcast panning to Dalton on the sideline laughing during the fourth quarter of the loss to the Steelers. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t care or it’s a common thing, but a bad look nonetheless.

Nobody is saying these guys aren’t upset they lost. They are. It’s not always going to show because they’re human. But the difference watching Lewis’ Bengals lose and actual contenders deal with the same thing is staggering.

And no, this isn’t anything new. It was funny and cute when OchoCinco was running around causing a scene because the Bengals were relevant for the first time in a long time. It was fun.

This, for many fans, isn’t.

And the scary part? We don’t know what a change at head coach in Cincinnati would look like. We don’t know if Paul Guenther assumes the role and everything stays the same or if Hue Jackson comes back after blubbering through a tenure in Cleveland. We don’t know if an outsider would have the same trust from the front office Lewis had or if everything would just regress to pre-Lewis levels.

But the call of the void in bringing on an outsider is fitting, right? The Bengals allegedly like players with baggage, which is funny, because plenty of would-be coaches would love the talent on the roster in Cincinnati — but the big unknown for them is the baggage of the front office.

Lewis will unfortunately never get the credit he deserves for modernizing the Bengals. Catching up to the rest of the league in many ways is great and deserves acclaim. But franchises win with risks, not just playing games.

Until something changes, these Bengals are just another team about to play just another game — something they’ll tell you.