The Pittsburgh Steelers have faced Joe Flacco plenty of times.

The Steelers (4-1) will see him again Thursday night when they play the Bengals (2-4) at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati. The veteran quarterback will make his second start for the Bengals after they acquired him from the NFC North rival Cleveland Browns in a trade last week.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin certainly didn't expect to see Flacco in a Bengals uniform when the season started. While holding his weekly news conference on Monday, Tomlin questioned why Browns general manager Andrew Berry made the trade.

"Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us, because it doesn't make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent that's hurting in that area," Tomlin said. "But that's just my personal feelings."

Flacco started the first four games of the season for the Browns, and they went 1-3 before benching him in favor of rookie Dillion Gabriel. In the Steelers' 23-9 victory over the Browns on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, Gabriel was 29 of 52 passing for 221 yards while getting sacked six times.

Meanwhile, Flacco had a respectable outing for the Bengals on Sunday despite having limited time to learn the offense. He completed 29 of 45 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-18 loss to the Packers in Green Bay.

The Bengals have been unsettled at quarterback since starter Joe Burrow sustained a toe injury in the season opener. They lost all three games that backup Jake Browning started.

Flacco is in his 18th season, including the first 11 with the Baltimore Ravens, another AFC North team, from 2008-18. Flacco has started 22 regular-season games against the Steelers, with his teams splitting those games.

Tomlin expects that Flacco will be difficult to handle after having a week to become familiar with the playbook.

"He's been in the stadium with them; they've been in the stadium with him," Tomlin said. "They understand his demeanor, how he deals with circumstances. I would imagine they worked hard a week ago on developing timing and cohesion."