PITTSBURGH – So there is a home-field advantage in the Bengals-Steelers rivalry, bad field in Pittsburgh and all.

Hines Ward caught two touchdown passes from Ben Roethlisberger to break the Steelers’ record for career scoring catches, and Pittsburgh ended a seven-game winning streak by road teams in their AFC North rivalry with the Bengals by winning 24-10 Sunday night.

Getting their offense back after being held to one touchdown in two games by the losing-record Jets and winless Dolphins, the Steelers (9-3) shook off an early 7-0 deficit to open a two-game division lead over the Cleveland Browns (7-5) and all but eliminate the Bengals (4-8) for a third successive season.

Two seasons ago, the Steelers won a wild-card playoff game in Cincinnati and, last season, kept the Bengals out of the postseason by winning there on the final day of the regular season. Now, the Bengals can finish no better than 8-8 during a 16th non-winning season in their last 17, and even a four-game winning streak probably wouldn’t get them into the playoffs as a wild card.

The home-field win was the first in the series since the Steelers beat the Bengals in Pittsburgh 28-17 in 2004. Cincinnati failed to become the first team to win in Pittsburgh for three consecutive seasons since Heinz Field opened in 2001.

On another rainy night in Pittsburgh – the second there in seven days for a prime-time game – the Steelers’ offense and defense held up and so did their much-criticized playing field that was so bad for last Monday’s 3-0 win over the Dolphins that an NFL operations official stayed in town all week to monitor the conditions.

AP-ES-12-02-07 2343EST