The Bengals entered week 9 fresh off an embarrassing shootout loss to the Jets that saw the defence completely collapse in the 2nd half. Facing the Bears in what, on paper, looked like another very winnable game, the Bengals were looking to bounce back. With how bad things were last week, surely it couldn’t get worse, right? Right??
It was a dream start for the Bengals, with Charlie Jones returning the opening kickoff 98 yards for a TD. His 3rd return TD in the NFL.
The Bears tied it up on their opening drive on a trick play, with Moore completing a 2 yard pass to Caleb Williams. After the Bengals kicked a field goal, a 15 yard TD catch by Zaccheus put the Bears up 14-10.
The scoring continued, as the two teams traded field goals, and then would each score TD’s on their next two drives. Higgins caught both of them for Cincinnati—one from 44 yards out, and another from 2. For the Bears, it was a 5 yard catch by Loveland, followed by a 22 yard TD run by Brown. At this point, the Bears led 31-27.
Chicago added another 10 points to go up by 14 with under 2 minutes left. Moore was the one who got in on a 17 yard run for their TD.
The Bengals, however, didn’t quit. They went down the field again, and Flacco found Noah Fant up the seam for a 23 yard TD. Higgins caught Flacco’s pass for the 2 point conversion, making the score 41-35 in favour of the Bears.
Needing an onside kick, Cincinnati’s odds of winning were slim. But McPherson’s onside attempt went off the foot of a Bears player and the ball was recovered by the Bengals. And again, they were able to find the end zone, with Flacco finding Iosivas with just 54 seconds left on the clock. 5
The Bengals defence had been unable to get a stop in quite some time, but needed one to officially complete the comeback. They put up some pressure on the first couple of plays, but Williams completed one down the field to move the chains on 3rd down. Then, Williams hit another one down the field, this time finding Loveland at around the Cincinnati 35. He bounced off a Jordan Battle tackle attempt, and somehow was able to run the rest of the way for the TD.
Flacco helped get them in position for a Hail Mary shot, but pressure forced him to retreat to the 35 yard line before leafing off an off platform pass attempt. Even with Flacco’s strong arm, asking him to make this kind of throw, with an injured shoulder, was a lot. The pass attempt was well short of the end zone, and ended up being picked off to end the game.
The Bengals lose 47-42, becoming the second team ever, and first since 1966, to lose two straight games when scoring 38+ points. They’ll head into their bye week with a 3-6 record. With Pittsburgh winning on Sunday, the gap in the AFC North race has widened. But in all honesty, with the state that the defence is in right now, it doesn’t matter much anyways. On the other side of the bye, the Bengals will travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers.
Thumbnail Image Via: Maize & Blue Nation (CC)