If the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to beat the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, they are going to have to do it without their two best offensive players.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, running back James Conner will be sidelined for the Steelers' Week 12 tilt due to a shoulder injury, and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster seems unlikely to play as a result of the concussion he suffered in Week 11.
Smith-Schuster is also battling a knee issue, an injury he sustained on the same play during Pittsburgh's Thursday night loss to the Cleveland Browns last week.
While the Bengals are just 0-10, the Steelers don't exactly look a whole lot better with both Conner and Smith-Schuster out of the lineup.
Pittsburgh's offense has struggled with those two guys on the field, so you can imagine how rough the Steelers will look without them.
Conner has been a fairly big disappointment this season, rushing for 390 yards and four touchdowns while averaging a mere 3.8 yards per carry, but he is still Pittsburgh's most viable weapon on the ground and is a year removed from a Pro Bowl appearance.
Meanwhile, Smith-Schuster was instantly elevated to the club's No. 1 receiver role with the departure of Antonio Brown and has also not lived up to expectations, as he has caught just 38 passes for 524 yards and three scores in 10 games.
Of course, the struggles of both Conner and Smith-Schuster are hardly all their fault, as Ben Roethlisberger went down with an elbow injury in Week 2 and Pittsburgh's offense as a whole has been an unmitigated disaster for most of the year.
The Steelers are 5-5 and are looking to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.
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