The Bengals were looking to bounce back after a humbling defeat to the bottom feeding New York Jets. They faced a Cleveland Browns team that was facing some adversity of their own. Having just released Odell Beckham Jr, and sitting at 4-4 coming into the week, the Browns were hungry to get things back on track.
The Bengals got off to a promising start. Mixon was running well and chunk plays to Higgins and Chase helped move the ball down the field. However, the Bengals got down to the Cleveland 7 and failed to find the end zone on two tries. On 3rd & goal from the 3, Burrow was intercepted by Denzel Ward, who returned it 99 yards for a TD. A back breaker, to say the least.
They did continue to move the ball on their second drive. Chunk plays to Drew Sample and Mike Thomas helped set up an 11 yard TD run by Joe Mixon. Unfortunately, after that point, mistakes started to pile up, as did the deficit.
The Browns offence, after waiting an eternity to get on the field, marched down with ease on their opening possession. Nick Chubb was running well and Baker Mayfield was showing no effects from his left shoulder injury. The Bengals thought they had stopped Cleveland on 3rd & 4 from the Cincinnati 7, but a Ricardo Allen pass interference call extended the drive. Nick Chubb scored a 1 yard TD only two plays later.
Cincinnati began moving the ball well on their next drive, but they eventually faced 4th & 3 from the Cleveland 40. Burrow was looking to find Boyd down the field, but the pass was broken up. A reasonable argument could have been made for pass interference on the play, as Boyd was impeded as he tried to come back to the ball. However, the refs let it slide.
Taking over from their own 40, the Browns needed only 1 play to find the end zone. Baker Mayfield to Donovan Peoples-Jones for the 60 yard TD. Not long after, Cleveland scored again, this time, a 28 yard field goal. It was set up by an untimely Ja’Marr Chase fumble.
The Bengals, with their final possession before the half, did drive down to the Browns 9. However, it stalled out and they settled for a field goal. The score at the half was 24-10 for the Browns.
Things didn’t get much better for the Bengals in the 2nd half. Both teams traded punts to begin the half, before Cleveland went on another TD drive. This drive lasted only two plays — an incompletion and a 70 yard TD run by Chubb. There were at least two or three missed tackles on the play. 31-10 Browns, at this point.
The Bengals, looking to get back into it, did score their second TD of the game, which was also Mixon’s second. They went for two afterwards, but could not convert, making it 34-16.
Unfortunately, that is as close as they’d come. Some deep shots were there for the taking, but drops by Chase and Higgins stopped the comeback from moving forward. The Browns would add a TD, making it 41-16, which is how the game ended.
The Bengals drop to 5-4 and will spend week 10 on their bye week. They will head to Vegas to take on the Raiders in week 11.