The Pittsburgh Steelers almost completely overhauled their secondary coming into this season.

The Steelers traded three-time All-Pro free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Miami Dolphins for three-time All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey. They also added veterans Darius Slay, Brandon Echols, Juan Thornhill, Chuck Clark, and Jabrill Peppers.

That left cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and strong safety DeShon Elliott as the two remaining starters in the secondary, a year after the Steelers were 25th in pass defense in the NFL.

The Steelers have fallen to 27th in pass defense this season, but the secondary is starting to show improvement as the new pieces begin fitting together. They allowed a season-low 183 yards passing while beating the Cleveland Browns 23-9 on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.

"I feel like we're playing to our potential, but we're still not satisfied," Porter said. "We all know that we still have stuff to work on and improve on. So, we've just got to stay with that chip on our shoulder, and I think we're going to keep climbing."

The secondary gets tested on Thursday night when the Steelers (4-1) visit the Bengals (2-4) at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati.

The Bengals' passing game has struggled since quarterback Joe Burrow injured his toe in the opener, ranking 30th in the league. After three straight losses with Jake Browning as the starting QB, the Bengals traded with the Browns for veteran Joe Flacco last week.

Flacco was solid in the Bengals' 27-18 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday despite having limited practice time with his new teammates. Flacco passed for 219 yards and two touchdowns while completing 29 of 45 attempts.

Flacco is working with two of the top wide receivers in the NFL, JaMarr Chase and Tee Higgins. Porter, though, believes the Steelers are up to the challenge.

"Coach (Mike) Tomlin told us from the jump, right from training camp, we got all of us for a reason," Porter said. "Every corner, every defensive back, he picked was for a reason. It was to lock these guys up and be able to play man across the board."