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NFL fans got a real treat on “Thursday Night Football” as the Cincinnati Bengals snapped their three-game losing streak with a thrilling 31-30 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers at home.
The Bengals, desperate for a win after starting the season 2-0, are now 3-4, while the Steelers fall to 4-2 on the year.
And while they may be well past their primes, Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco put on a show like it was the early 2010s in Cincinnati.
It started with Rodgers, who has gotten better by the week it seems with the Steelers in his debut season. He needed just eight plays to go 69 yards for a touchdown to tight end Jonnu Smith from 10 yards out, as he scrambled, surveyed and threw a strike to his man for the seven-point lead.
For Flacco, the success didn’t come right away in his home debut with the Bengals, as they were forced to punt twice. But the third possession saw the drive Bengals fans have been desperate for since Flacco was traded from the Cleveland Browns to relieve Jake Browning of his starting duties.
Flacco went 10 plays and 72 yards where he found Ja’Marr Chase on one of many passes, this one for an eight-yard touchdown to make it 10-7.
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Then, Cincinnati’s defense came through immediately as momentum shifted to the home team. Jordan Battle intercepted Rodgers on an incredible play, ripping the ball out of D.K. Metcalf’s hands and staying inbounds while doing so. Flacco took that opportunity and found Tee Higgins, who ran through multiple Steelers defenders for a 29-yard touchdown.
Rodgers would be picked off again on the ensuing drive, and the Bengals were able to kick a field goal before the end of the first half to head into the locker room with a surprising 17-10 lead.
If the first half wasn’t wild enough, the second half blew the doors off their primetime divisional bout. There were five straight scoring drives, including three straight touchdown drives, with Flacco finding Noah Fant and Rodgers using his tight ends Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington to make it a 27-24 game.
The Bengals were able to give Evan McPherson a field goal try, which he buried to move their lead to 30-24, but Rodgers had the opportunity late in the fourth quarter to give his team a shot at the lead they were chasing since the first quarter.
With 2:21 left on the clock, Rodgers escaped pressure and his eyes lit up as he saw Freiermuth alone downfield and he zipped a pass to him that was caught and it was off to the races. Freiermuth went 68 yards to tie the game, and the extra point was good to give Pittsburgh the 31-30 lead.
But was it too fast of a score for the Steelers considering how Flacco and the Bengals’ offense were playing? You bet.
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Flacco dissected the Steelers’ defense once more with a seven-play drive that was capped by a perfectly placed 28-yard pass to Higgins, who smartly slid in the red zone to waste clock and allow McPherson a chance for the walk-off field goal. He nailed it from 36 yards out and the Paycor Stadium crowd was in a frenzy as they finally got back into the win column.
Looking at the box score, Chase broke his own franchise record for the most receptions in a single game, hauling in 16 of his 23 targets from Flacco for 161 yards and his touchdown. Those 23 targets were the most a player has had all season in the NFL by a mile.
Higgins also added 96 yards with his touchdown on six catches, while Chase Brown finally had the rushing game he wanted with 108 yards on 11 carries after struggling through the first six games.
Flacco finished an incredible 31-of-47 for 342 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. As for Rodgers, his patented Hail Mary didn’t work in the end. He was 23-of-34 for 249 yards with four touchdown passes and two interceptions.
Jaylen Warren tallied 127 yards on the ground as well as 31 air yards on four catches, while Freiermuth had his breakout game this season with 111 yards on five receptions.
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