After an intensely frustrating season chock-a-block with endgame futility and zaniness and plain old bad luck, Cincinnati at long last was on the receiving end of good fortune on Monday Night Football in Dallas. The key moment in their 27-20 victory over the Cowboys came right at the two-minute warning, when Cincinnati conjured to have a punt blocked (by old pal Nick Vigil, natch) and have it touched, Leon Lett-style, across the line of scrimmage, then recovered the loose ball. They scored the game-winning touchdown moments later on yet another hook-up between Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.
This crazy play was the story of two players with difficult-to-pronounce names who haven’t seen much action. Bengals depth player Maema Njongmeta botched the block that allowed the deflection, but he kept hustling and recovered the ball. Meanwhile, it’s hard to blame the poor Cowboy, Amani Oruwariye, for seeing the ball bounce his way, the end zone yawning, and remembering Dallas’ return of an onside kick for a score against Washington a couple of weeks back. He wanted a minute of scoop-and-score glory but it wound up costing him, and—incroyable!—helping the Bengals.
So Cincinnati wins the “Disappointing 2024” Bowl with Dallas, quiets any smoldering heat around Zac Taylor for the moment, and gives all of us a reason to smile for the first time in 36 days (that’s how long it was between Bengals victories). The win was largely due to the continued brilliance of Burrow and Chase, which remains as constant as the Northern Star. Burrow was 33-for-44 for 337 yards and three touchdowns, with Chase catching 14 of them for 117 yards and two of the touchdowns.
Uno’s huge game put his, uh, chase for the wide receiver “triple crown” on hammerlock. He now has 15 touchdowns on the season; only Amon-Ra St. Brown even has 10 scores. His yardage lead increased over Justin Jefferson, 1,319 to 1,170. And he has 93 receptions, six more than rookie tight end sensation Brock Bowers, which feels the most precarious of the three. Chase’s advanced stats are also otherworldly—to take just one example, he’s way ahead in DYAR, with 415 (second place is St. Brown again, with 330), a pace that would put him in the top t10 all time in that efficiency stat.
This week’s huge numbers came in large part thanks to Dallas repeatedly blitzing Burrow, thus leaving Cowboys corners mano y mano con Uno. No bueno.
Another one of our dearly departed buddies, Dallas DC Mike Zimmer, sent extra rushers at Burrow 19 times. He was sacked once, and on the other 18 plays he completed 13 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown. One can understand Zimmer’s thought process: With no Orlando Brown in the game and Cincinnati’s O-line struggling, it made sense to put them under duress and force Burrow off his spot as much as possible. But Joe’s superpowers include pre-play blocking adjustments and pocket movement, and both were on full display Monday night. Dallas brought pressure, but Burrow laughed at it.
After the game came disquieting news that his home had been broken into while he was in Big D. But these robbers don’t know that they’re messing with Batman—Joe is going to hop in the Batmobile he snagged on RichDudes.com and chase down the bad guys.
Speaking of wealth, better and more pertinent news came in the postgame press conference, when Burrow made bold comments about keeping Tee Higgins beyond this season. All QBs want to keep their elite weaponry intact, of course, but Burrow isn’t the type to say idle things at pressers. Another log was tossed on the fire when word came down that Higgy has changed his agent ahead of his second contract. Cincinnati definitely can pay Burrow, Chase, and Higgins at the same time and, depending on structure, can certainly do it in a way that doesn’t cripple the rest of the team. It would still remain a surprise if it actually happens—Uno’s price tag is only going up with every awesome game. But even a small chance the band stays together is a slice of good news in an otherwise long season.
Now comes a golden opportunity to win consecutive games for only the second time all season (Cincinnati beat the hapless Giants and Browns back in October) with a trip to NashVegas to play the Titans, the fourth time since January 2022 that the Bengals are visiting the Bachelorette Capital of the World. Tennessee is just 3-8 in its first season under coach Brian Callahan (another former Bengals coordinator!) and is coming off a 10-6 loss to Jacksonville that was about as grueling to watch as a Faces of Death video.
Even against the 2024 Bengals defense, the Titans will be hard-pressed to score. (Let’s give the beleaguered D-unit an attaboy for some clutch fourth quarter D against Dallas as well as a red zone interception, a Yeti-rare sight this season.) The Titans are 31st in offensive DVOA as Callahan has repeatedly been struck dumb by quarterback Will Levis and his propensity for YOLO throws and idiotic mistakes. Backup Mason Rudolph had a strong game against the Bengals while with Pittsburgh last year, but Cally isn’t likely to gamble and start him.
Tennessee’s defense has been a strength, especially against the run, where it’s a top 10 unit thanks to immense tackles Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat. Former Cincinnati corner Chido Awuzie has missed much of the season with injuries but should start Sunday, unlike their big ticket acquisition of the offseason, L’Jarius Sneed, who is on injured reserve. Despite all the secondary issues (slot corner Roger McCreary has also been banged up) the Titans have held down enemy wideouts (top 11 against #1, #2, and #3 receivers). Of course, they haven’t seen anything like the Chase-Higgins combo. Still, it might behoove spreading the ball out to the likes of Mike Gesicki and Chase Brown (the Titans are 29th in stopping passes to running backs).
Cincinnati’s special teams have been poor this season (23rd in DVOA, and it isn’t just Evan MacPherson’s struggles), but Tennessee’s has been catastrophic. They’re dead last by a wide margin and have had two punts blocked—and, no, they didn’t recover either after it was touched. Returner Jha’Quan Jackson was at benched on Sunday after five fumbles across punts and kickoffs this season. Penalties have repeatedly set the team back and frustrated rookie coordinator Colt Anderson, whose quote on the topic of his unit says it all: “You can probably say I was assuming guys knew what they were doing.” Welcome to the NFL, rook.…
The last time the Bengals played the Titans, Cincinnati’s offense was held to just three points, the nadir of the “Burrow calf injury immobility” phase that started 2023 with a whimper. Of course, we prefer to recall the divisional playoff game that essentially closed the Mike Vrabel Super Bowl window in Nashville and led in part to his firing.
A win on Sunday will hardly lead to those heights of ecstasy and will only further impair the draft position come April. But in a season of despair, we could all use a little sunshine, right?
Robert Weintraub heads up Bengals coverage for Cincinnati Magazine and has written for The New York Times, Grantland, Slate, and Deadspin. Follow him on Twitter at @robwein. Listen to him on Mo Egger’s show on 1530AM every Thursday at 5:20 p.m.
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