There were a lot of deplorable actions in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 18-16 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the wild-card round of the AFC playoffs on Saturday night at Paul Brown Stadium.

And not all of them were perpetrated by Bengals players.

We introduce you to Steelers linebackers coach Joey Porter, who, throughout his playing career, was no saint. For whatever reason, Porter, who works on the defensive side of things and is not a trainer or doctor, was on the field after the bludgeoning late hit on Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown, who plays on the offensive side of things and was in need only of trainers and doctors.

Understanding all that, then, why would a linebackers coach be out there? He has no business on the field in that situation. Brown is not one of the players he interacts with in any way, shape or form.

Porter began chattering at Bengals players and got into a shoving match, causing Cincinnati to get flagged a second time for a personal foul. The two 15-yard penalties, one after the other following an incomplete pass, and without another play being run, moved the Steelers 30 yards downfield and put them into position to kick the game-winning field goal in the waning seconds.

You’ll never be able to prove it, but my guess – very, very, very emphatically so — is that Porter went out there with the intention of doing exactly what he did, and that is to rile up several Bengals players who were already out of control and bait them into a personal foul penalty that would almost assure the Steelers of victory when, without the extra call, they were teetering on defeat. And I wouldn’t be shocked if somebody in authority on the Pittsburgh sideline was fully aware of what he was doing, and condoned it.

Browns fans may remember Porter, a linebacker with Pittsburgh a decade and a half ago. He was the player who intentionally went after Browns punter Chris Gardocki with a brutal, cheap-shot hit and tried to put him out of the game during Cleveland’s 23-20 victory at Cleveland Browns Stadium in 2000.

Gardocki thought Steelers head coach Bill Cowher had ordered the hit and, shortly thereafter, ran toward the former Browns linebacker and assistant coach on the Pittsburgh sideline, got about 15 feet away from him and very publicly told him that he was No. 1, more or less.

Ironically, when Gardocki left the Browns, he signed with Cowher’s Steelers and became one of Porter’s teammates. Money talks. Speaking of talking, I wonder if the three men ever talked about that play in Cleveland?

And one more thing: You have to wonder if Porter will ever talk publicly about the game-deciding chain of events in Cincinnati in which he came out of nowhere to somehow play a part.

Hmmmmm.

Wrap your Terrible Towel around that.