After talking all week about ignoring history, the Cincinnati Bengals went out and made some Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh.

Josh Brown, whose history with the Bengals totals all of 18 days, kicked a 40-yard field goal with four seconds remaining for a 13-10 victory that eliminated the Steelers and earned Cincinnati a second consecutive playoff berth for the first time in 30 years.

“It’s a big win for the City of Cincinnati,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said. “I know they just think that there’s some complex. There’s no complex. This group in there has very little history of anything.”

Baltimore (10-5) clinched the AFC North Division title with a win against the New York Giants, Indianapolis (10-5) beat Kansas City to all but lock up the No. 5 seed, which means the Bengals (9-6) will be the No. 6 seed and play a first-round game on the road against the No. 3 seed, which if the season ended today would be New England (11-4).

“This didn’t just start Monday when we were preparing for (Pittsburgh),” Bengals defensive end Micahel Johnson said. “It started a way, way long time ago. We could see things going in the right direction. It’s very pleasing, but we’ve still got some more bricks to lay.”

The Bengals have won six of their last seven to recover from a 3-5 start. And as has been the case in the three most recent victories, the defense did most of the work Sunday, limiting Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to 14-of-28 passing for 220 yards while sacking him four times while intercepting him twice.

Leon Hall returned the first interception 17 yards for a touchdown to give Cincinnati a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. And Reggie Nelson corralled a Roethlisberger overthrow in the closing seconds to set up the game-winning score.

“He sailed it over his head, and I just went for the interception,” Nelson said. “My eyes were big, man. I was like ‘Oh man, I’ve got to catch this one.’ ”

Taking over at the Pittsburgh 46-yard line with 14 seconds to go, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton hit A.J. Green with a 21-yard pass. Brown, who had missed a 56-yarder three minutes earlier, then drilled the game-winner to set off the celebration.

“It’s something you dream about and if you get the opportunity to live it and capture that moment, you want to keep that feeling as long as you can,” said Brown, who only signed with the Bengals on Dec. 6 after Mike Nugent suffered a calf injury in practice.

Brown’s miss on the 56-yarder gave the Steelers a great chance to go ahead as they took over at their own 46 with 3:18 to go. But the Bengals’ defense only allowed Pittsburgh to get close enough to try a 53-yard field goal, which Shaun Suisham left short.

The Cincinnati defense also came up huge after the offense turned the ball over three times on a pair of Dalton interceptions and a Green fumble, preventing the Steelers from turning any of them into points.

“It was a great defensive effort today,” Lewis said. “We go as our front guys go. It was a good day today for them. I thought they were relentless all day long with the pressure, starting with the first series.”

The Bengals held the Steelers to 280 total yards, 60 of which came on a Roethlisberger touchdown pass to Antontio Brown that got Pittsburgh within 10-7 with 1:09 left in the first half.

“I’ll take the blame on that one,” said cornerback Adam Jones, who bit on Brown’s double move on the TD. “Things like that are going to happen sometimes. Nobody got rattled or anything.”

The win snapped a five-game losing streak against the Steelers and sends the Bengals into Sunday’s season finale at home against Baltimore with a chance to reach double-digit wins for just the third time in 23 years.

“Marvin Lewis said everybody has talked about we haven’t beat the Steelers since we’ve been here,” said Dalton, who was 24-of-41 for 278 yards and the two interceptions. “For us to come here and get a win in this place is huge. Not only get a win, but get us into the playoffs. It feels really good to have all that and to be able to achieve it.”