Thursday night’s NFL game to open Week 7 of the season was historic, and two savvy, veteran QBs tackled a big assignment.

For only the second time in the Super Bowl era, two quarterbacks over 40 faced off, the only other occurrences happening between Tom Brady and Drew Brees. Brady and Breeze were 43 and 42 in their last meeting during the 2020 season, and Joe Flacco (40) faced a 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers on Thursday in what’s being labeled as the Icy Hot Bowl!

What started innocently enough on Thursday night, turned into one of the most epic battles of the season, outside of the wild 41 - 40 game with Buffalo and Baltimore to start this year.

Pittsburgh carried a 7 - 0 lead into the second quarter, and two old men hadn’t quite found the Fountain of Youth yet.

Joe Flacco must have really dipped in that bath, because what transpired from there was awe-inspiring.

Flacco, after going down 10 - 0 early in the second quarter, led three straight scoring drives to give the Bengals a halftime lead that they wouldn’t relinquish until just over 2 minutes to play. The Steelers had hoped their final drive to take a 31 - 30 lead would hold on, but with 7 seconds left to play, the Bengals’ fans got to drive home happy when Evan McPherson nailed a 36-yard field goal giving the home team a 33 - 31 victory.

Flacco and Ja’Marr Chase connected 16 times, and that was essentially the Bengals offense all night. With only 108 rushing yards from Chase Brown, Chase and Flacco combined for 161 of Flacco’s 342 passing yards, and Flacco targeting Chase 23 times overall.

Flacco was only sacked twice during the night, and let’s not take away from what Aaron Rodgers did in a losing effort.

Despite the 2 interceptions, which were costly, Rodgers went 23 for 34 with 249 passing yards, and he added four more TD passes to his resume as he chases Peyton Manning for third on the NFL all-time list.

Other than the two picks from Rodgers, it was a relatively clean game with no other turnovers. 

What’s next for these two legends?

Cincinnati will stay at home and welcome the Jets to town next Sunday, and the early line has the home team favored by 4-5 points.

Pittsburgh has just a little game happening on Sunday night. Aaron Rodgers will return to Green Bay for the first time since leaving the organization three seasons ago, so that will make it an interesting trip for him, no doubt. What kind of reception will he get? We’ll all have to tune in and find out together!