The Bengals beat the Browns and stay in the NFL playoff picture week 16

With two weeks left in the 2024-25 NFL season, the Cincinnati Bengals are still alive.

December began with a loss that dropped the Bengals to 4-8, but on Sunday the team kept its high playoff hopes alive with a 24-6 win over the Cleveland Browns at Paycor Stadium in front of 65,734 spectators.

The win sets the Bengals up for a crucial home game Saturday (4:30 p.m., NFL Network) against the Denver Broncos, with both teams pushing for the final AFC Wild Card spot.

For Cleveland, Sunday’s loss made a poor season even worse as it fell to 3-12.

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow did a mostly clean job in the game against the in-state rival Browns, although a red zone error and a turnover in the fourth quarter ruined his day. Additionally, Burrow completed 23 of 30 passes for three touchdowns and 252 yards, surpassing the 4,000 pass threshold on the opening drive of the contest.

Burrow made another memorable, acrobatic play that opened the score and also capped a 99-yard drive. While falling to the ground on a scramble, Burrow completed a two-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins for the first score. Burrow later said he felt his body was parallel to the ground when he made the throw.

“That was crazy,” Burrow said afterwards, smiling. “I thought my knee was down because I had never thrown a football in that position before, but I was able to hang on.”

That Bengals score was preceded by Vonn Bell pummeling the ball and recovering the ensuing fumble as Cleveland attempted to score on the game’s first possession. It was the first of several turnovers that day, but it may have been the most important.

“It’s just the game,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. “There’s a good chance we’ll fight uphill the rest of the way and it’s a 14-point swing. Not only did it cost them a little life, getting that stop at the one-yard line, getting the ball and then going 99 (yards), you know, the defense gave us a lot of confidence and set the tone.”

Burrow later found Andrei Iosivas on a six-yard pass for a touchdown in the second quarter.

The majority of the Bengals’ scoring came in the first half, and backup kicker Cade York hit a 59-yard field goal on the final play of the half as Cincinnati shut out Cleveland and led 17-0 at the break.

While the Bengals were working on their first shutout in years, the Browns finally got into the game in the third quarter on a four-yard touchdown run by Jerome Ford, formerly of the Cincinnati Bearcats program. The attempt to reach the point after was missed.

On a day in which Cincinnati’s defense forced three turnovers and sacked Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson (20 of 34 passes, 157 yards, two interceptions), Cleveland failed to score another score.

The Bengals finally tied Cleveland with 1:44 left in the fourth quarter when Burrow hit Ja’Marr Chase for a 32-yard touchdown.

Bengals winning streak

Cincinnati lost 8-4 to the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 1 at Paycor Stadium after the bye week. Phrases like “lost season” and “wasted season” have dominated the history of the 2024 Bengals.

Fast forward to Sunday. The Bengals won their third straight game and clawed their way back to meaningful football at 7-8 with their playoff hopes still alive.

It hasn’t been pretty up to this point, and it’s debatable how impressive Cincinnati has been during this three-game run. The list of quarterbacks they beat — Dallas’ Cooper Rush, Tennessee’s Will Levis and Thompson-Robinson — doesn’t read like a Hall of Fame vote. Not surprisingly, public perception has not changed significantly heading into the 2024 election campaign.

But what comes next for the Bengals has a chance to turn the old narrative on its head. Cincinnati will face the Denver Broncos on Saturday as both teams continue to battle for the final AFC Wild Card spot.

A Cincinnati win would put a lot of pressure on Denver heading into the teams’ respective season finales in Week 18.

“We just have to win this week and move on from there,” Burrow said. “That’s what we have to do from now on, try to let everything else take its course, but we just have to take care of business, take care of what we can control and see where we are.”

Broncos quarterback Bo Nix is a different caliber than the last three signal-callers Cincinnati has faced in the last four weeks (four signal-callers if you factor in Levis’ bench seat in the win over the Titans). Saturday’s game is a duel that is not that easy to win and the margin for error will be less.

Nevertheless, the Bengals deserve a home game with real effort at the end of December. Win this game against a team with a winning record and real playoff zeal, and this end-of-season turnaround could begin to change how we think about the Bengals’ 2024 year.

A division win and a win at Paycor Stadium

Division wins and wins of any kind at Paycor Stadium were hard to come by in 2024. Cincinnati had one of both in Sunday’s game, but added another by beating Cleveland.

Bengals fans continue to come out in large numbers to support the team and giving them a second win was long overdue.

By defeating the Browns, Cincinnati also secured a season win over Cleveland.

“You have to win division games to get what you want in this league,” Taylor said. “I don’t care what (the Browns’) record says. They are well trained. They have great players. They don’t make anything easy for you.”

Taylor urged fans to come out and try to disrupt Nix in the final home game of the season next weekend.

“I’m just in disbelief that they just show up at every game. “I know what our home record is this year, but they’re there, they’re supportive, they’re loud, they give us that extra boost,” Taylor said. “That’s it. We’re counting on this crowd to show up next Saturday, be as loud as ever and make this a difficult environment for a rookie quarterback and a team to come here and give our guys the confidence and energy they need. “”

The Triple Crown clock continues for Ja’Marr Chase

By his high standards, Ja’Marr Chase had a relatively quiet day compared to some of his most memorable outings this season. On Sunday, he caught six balls and rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown, although he managed 32 of those yards in the win with less than two minutes remaining.

Chase won’t mind the late stat padding as he remains in the hunt for the Triple Crown or leading the NFL in catches, yards and touchdowns. His late touchdown catch also gave him over 1,500 receiving yards in 2024.

Chase entered Sunday leading the league in all statistical categories with 102 catches, 1,413 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Chase also receives flowers for breaking a franchise record he already owned. At about 10:30 a.m. in the second quarter, Chase hauled in a catch, bounced off a tackler and dived for an 11-yard gain. That play pushed him to 1,463 receiving yards this season, surpassing the franchise single-season record of 1,455 he set in 2021.

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