PITTSBURGH — Maybe Ben Roethlisberger should miss practice every week.
Attacking repeatedly downfield and rifling passes with authority, Roethlisberger had season highs of 333 yards passing and four touchdowns to give the Steelers a 36-10 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday and keep them as the NFL's only unbeaten team.
It was the Steelers' 12th consecutive victory against the Bengals (2-6-1), including postseason, and improved their franchise-best start to 9-0.
It was the sixth time the Bengals scored 10 or fewer points at Heinz Field since Mike Tomlin became coach in 2007.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, passed for 213 yards and a touchdown, but he was sacked four times. The Steelers are now 19-2 against rookie quarterbacks who start a game at Heinz Field.
Roethlisberger spent the week on the reserve/COVID-19 list with four other players and did not return to the team until Saturday. But the time off gave his arm plenty of time to rest, and he responded by abandoning his short, quick passing game to throw for 240 of his 333 yards in the first half and post a 110.1 passer rating.
JuJu Smith-Schuster had a team-high nine catches for 77 yards, including an 8-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
The Bengals, who had been averaging 30.4 points in their previous three games, managed just one touchdown — a 2-yard pass from Burrow to rookie receiver Tee Higgins on fourth-and-goal in the second quarter.
Rookie receiver Chase Claypool caught two of Roethlisberger's touchdowns, giving him nine on the season, most among NFL rookies.
The final one came on a quick 5-yard slant over the middle with 10:31 remaining to give the Steelers their most lopsided victory since they beat the Cleveland Browns, 38-7, in Week 5. The touchdown was set up by a 54-yard punt return by Ray-Ray McCloud to the Bengals 15.
The Steelers, who had a 22-7 halftime lead, padded the margin to 29-7 when Roethlisberger threw his third touchdown — _ and 11-yard strike over the middle to rookie Claypool with 4:22 remaining in the third quarter.
Roethlisberger completed 16 of 26 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns, and Chris Boswell kicked three field goals to give the Steelers a 22-7 halftime lead.
Burrow was 16 of 25 for 189 yards and a touchdown, but he was sacked twice by linebacker T.J. Watt in the first half.
The Steelers took advantage of a fumble on a punt return by Alex Erickson to take a 3-0 lead. The fumble was forced by linebacker Ola Adeniyi and recovered by running back Benny Snell at the Bengals 32, setting up a 41-yard field goal by Chris Boswell.
Boswell added a 30-yard field goal to make it 6-0, but the Steelers wasted a good scoring opportunity after James Conner ran through a huge hole for 16 yards to the Bengals 16.
One series later, they didn't waste a big play. Roethlisberger finally connected on a deep pass when he hit receiver Diontae Johnson down the left sideline for a 46-yard gain to the Bengals 28. After Roethlisberger hit James Washington for 16 yards, he fired a quick slant to Johnson for a 12-yard touchdown. However, coach Mike Tomlin surprisingly elected to go for the two-point conversion, and Roethlisberger's pass to Chase Claypool failed, making it 12-0.
After the Steelers failed to capitalize on another Bengals mistake — rookie receiver Higgins fumbled after a being stripped by Cam Sutton and Steven Nelson recovered — the Bengals went 90 yards to eight plays to cut the lead to 12-7 with 10:37 remaining in the second quarter. Higgins scored on a 2-yard pass from Burrow on fourth-and-goal, but the touchdown was set up when Higgins was wide open down the field for a 54-yard gain to the Steelers 22.
The Steelers came right back on a seven-play, 78-yard drive to pad their lead to 19-7 on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to Smith-Schuster — a play in which Roethlisberger shook off the pressure of defensive end Carl Lawson to hit Smith-Schuster in the back of the end zone. But the drive was aided by a pair of back-to-back Bengals penalties — a roughing hit on Roethlisberger by defensive end Sam Hubbard and a pass interference call against cornerback William Jackson on Claypool at the Bengals 5.
Boswell added his third field goal of the half from 45 yards to give the Steelers a 22-7 lead at halftime.
