NFL 2017: Who plays on Monday Night Football in Week 13?

The AFC North will be in full-effect in primetime in NFL Week 13 for Monday Night Football, but which teams will renew their rivalry?

There is perhaps no better rivalry in recent years than the AFC North rivalry between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals. Despite some close scores and heated moments, Pittsburgh has won the last five games in this series including an 18-16 win over the Bengals in the playoffs two years ago. The Bengals and Steelers are known to play each other hard so this game is sure to be exciting.

The Steelers have looked like one of the best teams in the AFC as they extended their win streak to six games last week. However, not all was perfect for Pittsburgh as they had to settle for a field goal in the final seconds to beat the Green Bay Packers at home despite being two-touchdown favorites prior to kickoff.

Pittsburgh allowed Brett Hundley to throw for 245 yards and three touchdowns, which might be a dangerous sign as they face a Cincinnati team that relies on their passing game to produce points.

The Bengals are now 5-6 after winning their last two games over the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns. While I win over the Browns was certainly expected, the method of how they did it was not. Cincinnati has been categorized by their struggles running the ball this season but that seemed to change last week.

Facing the Browns, rookie running back Joe Mixon rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. Mixon’s five yards per carry and high volume workload may be the end of Cincinnati’s committee-running back style, as the Giovanni Bernard was the only other running back to get any carries and he had just three carries for 12 yards. The Bengals may be riding with the hot hand for now but Mixon will likely be the clear option in the backfield in the next few weeks.