CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals are officially back from the dead. Ten days ago, their season was on life support and it looked like things were about to take a turn for the worse, but then the front office decided to do something crazy: They made a deal for Joe Flacco.
It was the biggest in-season trade in franchise history and the gamble is already paying off.
The 40-year-old quarterback led the Bengals to a stunning 33-31 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night. Flacco somehow managed to throw for 342 yards and three touchdowns despite the fact that he had only participated in a total of five practices going into the game. That’s like winning the Indianapolis 500 five days after you get your driver’s license.
Flacco didn’t know all the play calls, he had trouble communicating with Zac Taylor at times and Ja’Marr Chase still hasn’t really gotten to practice with his new quarterback, but somehow, it all worked. Chase went off for 161 yards and a touchdown on a night where he caught a franchise record 16 passes.
Following the game, the Bengals star receiver was asked why he already has so much chemistry with Flacco and the usually talkative Chase had no explanation.
“That’s a good question, I don’t know,” Chase said. The receiver noted that the two guys haven’t really practiced much together because Chase missed some practice time last week due to an illness, and this week, the Bengals only held walk-through practices heading into Thursday’s game.
In this new upside down world that the Bengals occupy, maybe not practicing together is actually helping, but whatever it is, the two definitely already have a connection. Over the past few days, Flacco made it clear that his goal was going to be to get the ball to Chase and Tee Higgins as often as possible and he came through on that one. He targeted Chase and Higgins with 33 of his 47 passes. (Higgins caught six passes for 96 yards and a touchdown.)
With the Bengals passing game firing on all cylinders, that opened up other things for the offense. Going into Week 7, the Bengals were averaging just 56.7 yards per game on the ground, which was the worst number in the NFL. With the Steelers living in fear of Flacco’s right arm, that opened things up for Chase Brown, who topped 100 yards rushing for just the second time in his career.
The run above went for 37 yards, which is mostly notable, because the Bengals didn’t have a single run of more than 15 yards through the first six weeks of the season, but then Flacco showed up and everything suddenly started working.
As a team, the Bengals rushed for 142 yards, which was their highest total since Week 18 of the 2023 season. Brown came through with 108 of those.
The Bengals offense was working so well that even their broken plays were gaining big chunks. The most shocking play of the game came in the fourth quarter when Flacco gained 12 yards after making the decision to keep the ball on a zone read.
“We were not aligned correctly. I don’t know why,” Taylor said. “It was a zone read that never in a million years we would keep. … I was shocked.”
Broken plays have a tendency to happen when you have a quarterback who’s only been with the team for nine days. They also happen when the quarterback can’t understand everything his coach is saying.
“I got to do a better job enunciating, I think my Oklahoma accent got him a couple of times, but I thought he did a great job managing the game,” Taylor said.
If this is how the Bengals are playing when Flacco is still learning the offense (and his coach’s accent), he’ll likely only get better once he has a few more practices under his belt.
When the Bengals offense is working, it’s one of the best in the NFL, and right now, it’s working. The Steelers were 4-1 going into Thursday’s game and if they had won, it would have given them a chance to run away with the AFC North, but instead, the 3-4 Bengals are right back in it.
Are the Bengals one of the best teams in the NFL? No, but they don’t have to be, they just have to be the best team in a bad division and they can certainly pull that off. If you’re wondering how interesting things might get in the AFC North race, just look at the next four weeks for both the Bengals and Steelers:
- Bengals: Jets, Bears, bye, at Steelers
- Steelers: Packers, Colts, at Chargers, Bengals
By the time these two teams meet again in Week 11, first place in the AFC North could be on the line. The Bengals also have the advantage of having the second-easiest remaining strength of schedule. Five of their final 10 games will be coming against teams that currently have zero or one win.
There’s a reason Mike Tomlin didn’t like the Flacco trade and there’s a reason he was mad at Browns general manager Andrew Berry for making it: The Browns threw the Bengals a lifeline.
The Bengals season was sinking and it was going down fast, but then the Browns came through and saved the day. Tomlin was clearly upset about the trade earlier this week, but in Cincinnati, fans were thanking the Browns for sending them Flacco.
No one in the city of Cincinnati has ever thanked anyone in Cleveland for anything ever, so you know someone messed up when Bengals fans are sending thanks to northeast Ohio.
Bengals kicker Evan McPherson, who booted through the game-winning field goal from 36 yards out with seven seconds left to play, might have given the best explanation for why Flacco means so much to the team.
“I love Joe,” McPherson said. “I love his attitude and what he brings to the team. He’s done a really good job connecting with guys on really short notice.”
The AFC North is officially up for grabs and the Bengals might be able to steal it, and it’s all thanks to Joe Flacco — and the Browns for sending him to Cincinnati.
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