The Cincinnati Bengals lost their momentum because of a fluke play. They lost the game because of familiar ones.

A failed pump fake that squirted away from quarterback Andy Dalton and off the helmet of guard Kevin Zeitler turned into an interception that enabled Pittsburgh to tie the game in the final seconds of the first half Sunday night.

Then the Steelers’ old-fashioned ground-and-pound techniques took over in the second half as third-string tailback Jonathan Dwyer had a career game while the defense held the Bengals to one first down over the final 26 minutes on the way to a 24-17 victory in front of a national television audience and a demoralized Paul Brown Stadium crowd of 63,411.

The loss was the Bengals’ third in a row, sending them into their bye week with a 3-4 record, while Pittsburgh improved to 3-3.

“It’s a disappointed team, but it is where we are right now,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said.

Cincinnati built an 11-point lead thanks to one of their longest and shortest touchdown drives of their season.

Going 80 yards on 15 plays on their first possession of the game, the Bengals grabbed a 7-3 lead on Cedric Peerman’s first career touchdown, a 5-yard run up the middle.

Their next scoring drive lasted just one play.

After Devon Still and Robert Geathers sacked Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and forced a fumble that Wallace Gilberry recovered at the Steelers 8, Andy Dalton fired a fastball to A.J. Green for a 14-3 lead with 8:29 left in the first half.

“We were executing the plays very well,” Dalton said. “Later in the game, it wasn’t clicking the way it should have.”

After holding the Steelers to a field goal, the Bengals were in position to add to a 14-6 lead before halftime. They had a first down at their own 45 with 90 seconds left before the break when Dalton lost the pump fake that ricocheted to Pittsburgh linebacker LaMarr Woodley.

“I was trying to hold the ball back,” Dalton said. “The guy jumped the route and it slipped out of my hand. Unfortunate play.”

Woodley returned the ball to the Cincinnati 29, and six plays later Roethlisberger hit Heath Miller with a 9-yard touchdown and then went back to his tight end for the game-tying two-point conversion.

“It was a big play for us,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said of the interception. “We like to that they’re all capable of delivering those types of plays. He was the man in that instance.”

The Cincinnati offense was never the same after that. After driving for a Mike Nugent 48-yard field goal and a 17-14 lead on the first series of the third quarter, the Bengals accumulated 38 yards and one first down over the final 26:09.

“We got off to a good start, but we have to keep doing it,” Lewis said. “We didn’t convert any of the third downs in the second half, other than the first drive. We’re not making enough plays consistently to win.”

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, rolled up 231 yards of offense in the second half to finish with a 431 to 185 advantage.

Starting for injured running backs Rashard Mendenhall and Isaac Redman, Dwyer finished with a career-high 122 rushing yards while Roethlisberger completed 27 of 37 passes for 278 yards.

The Steelers held the ball for 19:27 to the Bengals’ 10:03 in the second half.

The Pittsburgh defense shut out Green after his touchdown reception, which led to Dalton finishing just 14 of 28 for 105 yards and a 56.4 passer rating, the second lowest of his career, heading into what is sure to be a long bye week.

“We have to be mentally tough to handle this,” Dalton said. “It’s unfortunate that we’ve lost three in a row. There’s a lot of season left. We still have time and there’s no giving up on this team.”