Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Coach Bill Cowher joins the celebration after the Steelers' 31-17 wild card playoff victory at Cincinnati. Click photo for larger image. A tale of two halves The Steelers rebounded after a poor performance in the first two quarters. Steelers -- First Half -- Cincinnati 14-9-0-128 -- Passing -- 21-15-0 (170) 12-38 -- Rushing -- 13-52 9 -- First Downs -- 13 0 -- Turnovers -- 0 2-46.5 -- Punts -- 1-50 12:37 -- Time of Possession -- 17:23 2-2 -- Red Zone -- 1-2 14 -- Points -- 17 Steelers -- Second Half -- Cincinnati 7-5-0-80 -- Passing -- 20-10-2-93 22-106 -- Rushing -- 7-32 10 -- First Downs -- 6 0 -- Turnovers -- 2 1-48 -- Punts -- 2-50.5 16:20 -- Time of Possession -- 13:40 1-3 -- Red Zone -- 0-1 17 -- Points -- 0

CINCINNATI -- Get out the ear plugs -- the Steelers are headed back to Indianapolis.

The Steelers quieted one crowd yesterday when they scored 24 unanswered points to beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-17, in an American Football Conference wild-card playoff game at Paul Brown Stadium -- the first road playoff victory for Bill Cowher since he became coach in 1992.

Now they will get another chance at 1 p.m. Sunday against the No. 1-seeded Indianapolis Colts in the boisterous RCA Dome, where Steelers officials and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger complained about enhanced crowd noise after a 26-7 defeat there on Nov. 28. Those complaints, backed by similar protests from Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio, prompted the National Football League to warn all 32 NFL teams about manufacturing crowd noise. The Colts denied enhancing crowd noise through microphones in the stadium.

"Right now, we just enjoy playing," Cowher said after the Steelers won for the second time this season in Cincinnati. "We're just going to go to the next game where they send us and we're going to try to find a way to win this next game."

The Steelers found that solution against the Bengals, the AFC North champion, and beat them for the seventh time in the last eight meetings in Cincinnati.

The Bengals lost their starting quarterback on their second play of the game when Carson Palmer, the second-rated passer in the National Football League who threw a club-record 32 touchdowns this season, injured his left knee and never returned. Palmer tore the anterior cruciate ligament when defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen rolled into his leg following a 66-yard completion to receiver Chris Henry.

Several Bengals players yelled and pointed at von Oelhoffen, who played six seasons in Cincinnati before coming to the Steelers. Von Oelhoffen, though, appeared to apologize to Palmer when he stood over him and even to several of the Bengals players.

Even though the orange-hued crowd of 65,870 was not littered with the usual amount of Terrible Towel-waving Steelers fans, chants of "Here We Go, Steelers, Here We Go," could be heard in the parking lots before the game and around the downtown area early in the morning. And when Jerome Bettis scored on a 5-yard run in the third quarter to finally put the Steelers in front, 21-17, yellow towels in the upper corners of the stadium were waving and twirling like helicopter blades.

As he ran off the field, Cowher, who improved his playoff record to 9-9, was shouting, "Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah!"

Linebacker Larry Foote shouted, "Who dey? We dey?" to Steelers fans who had made their way to the lower level when the game ended -- a reference to the Bengals' battle cry that was plastered all week in store windows, restaurants and hotels in the Cincinnati area. The slogan was even scripted on the practice field adjacent to Paul Brown Stadium, a message the Steelers players noticed when the team bus arrived 3¹/₂ hours before the 4:30 p.m. kickoff.

"This is what it's all about -- the loser goes home," wide receiver Hines Ward said afterward in the Steelers locker room. "We put Pittsburgh back on the map of the AFC North. They may have won the championship, but we are still alive in the playoffs."

But the biggest cheer after the victory was reserved for Bettis, who led the team with 52 yards rushing.

As he ran off the field through a tunnel ringed by delirious Steelers fans, Bettis was serenaded with chants of "Four more years, four more years" -- a plea to the 13-year running back not to retire at the end of the season.

Bettis, though, still has at least another game to go. And it will be against the Colts (13-3), the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs who did not play this weekend because of a first-round bye.

And the Steelers are headed to Indianapolis because of Roethlisberger, their second-year quarterback, who atoned for last year's poor performances in the playoffs with a brilliant showing against the Bengals.

After falling behind 17-7, Roethlisberger brought the Steelers back to the first road playoff victory since 1989 by throwing for 208 yards and three touchdowns.

Last season, Roethlisberger was intercepted five times in two playoff games against the New York Jets and New England Patriots.

"I felt more mature," Roethlisberger said. ""Basically, I'm making better decisions and trying to lead this team."

The Steelers did not exactly tiptoe their way to victory as offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt pulled out three gadget plays against the Bengals, one that resulted in a 43-yard touchdown from Roethlisberger to wide receiver Cedrick Wilson after the quarterback took a lateral pass from Antwaan Randle El.