What a Flacco-Led Bengals Win Against the Steelers on Thursday Night Would Mean for Cincinnati
Joe Flacco made his debut for the Cincinnati Bengals last Sunday after getting traded to the team five days before their 4:25 p.m. EST matchup against the Green Bay Packers. Flacco had previously beaten the Packers in Week Three when he was on the Cleveland Browns, but came up short, losing 27-18. Flacco had a fine game against a young yet talented defense, passing for 219 yards, two touchdowns, while completing 64% of his passes. He continued to get the ball out fast, only being sacked once.
The offense looked stagnant at times, but they picked it up in the second half with a 78-yard, 17-play, 10-minute drive to come within three. Evan McPherson knocked down a 45-yard field goal, followed by a Ja’Marr Chase touchdown to put them down by six. The Packers would then make a field goal to go up nine, and Cincinnati wouldn’t respond. The Cincinnati defense also had moments. Rookie linebacker Barrett Carter took over as a starter this week, taking Logan Wilson’s job as mike and playcaller. T.J. Slaton had his best game of the year in his return to Lambeau after being there for four years. DJ Turner ended the game with four tackles, a tackle for a loss, and five pass deflections, one of them leading to a Geno Stone interception. With the defense looking a little rejuvenated and Flacco playing his best football of the season, could the Bengals have a chance on Thursday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers?
This Thursday’s matchup between the Steelers and Bengals will be the third time ever that two 40-year-old quarterbacks will start against each other. In the last 30 matchups, the Steelers are 22-8 against the Bengals, 12-3 when they are in Cincinnati. Flacco has a career record of 11-11 when playing against Pittsburgh, not great, but more success than Cincinnati has had in recent years. If the Bengals can pull off the upset and build some momentum, they could see themselves back in contention for the playoffs at a solid 3-4 record.
Joe Burrow will be back from injury at the earliest in Week 14 or 15, leaving at most five games for Burrow to try and make a playoff push. If they can get through Thanksgiving being two games under .500, then they have a chance to win out and try and sneak into the playoffs. We all know how well Burrow plays in December and shouldn’t write out this season yet. The Bengals’ next six matchups are against the Steelers, Jets, Bears, Steelers again, Patriots, and Ravens, all winnable matchups with their average winning percentage being 0.447. The Bengals could go 3-3 over this stretch and keep themselves alive.
