CINCINNATI — The Bears have usually been the ones smoldering and trying to pick up the pieces after a loss, but this time, they left the Bengals reeling after a 47-42 win Sunday.
The Bengals rallied from a 41-27 deficit with two late touchdowns to take a 42-41 lead with just under a minute left, but Bears quarterback Caleb Williams won it with a 58-yard touchdown pass to Colston Loveland. The Bengals missed two tackles on that play that could’ve completely changed the ending given that the Bears were barely in field-goal range and were out of timeouts, and NFL Next Gen Stats charted them at 15 missed tackles for the game, which cost them an extra 133 yards.
“I just can’t believe it,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “The game was right there, and we just don’t find a way to get it done… All we have to do is make one play.
“It’s sick. It’s sick to lose like that.”
The Bengals came into the game with an NFL-worst 94 missed tackles this season, costing them 694 yards.
The organization pivoted after starting quarterback Joe Burrow went on injured reserve by trading with the Browns for Joe Flacco. He’s 40, but has been on fire since joining the Bengals and had arguably the best game of his career Sunday: 31-for-47 passing, 470 yards, four touchdown passes, two interceptions, 109.4 passer rating.
The Bengals have scored 32.8 points per game with Flacco as their starter, but gone 1-3 in those starts because they’ve allowed 36 per game. It’s not surprising that losing wouldn’t sit well with the offense in that scenario.
“We put the ball in the end zone and go up a point at the end, finish the [expletive game,” running back Chase Brown said. “Just end it. That’s what we need to do: just end the [expletive] game.”
The Bears scored 47 points (their most since 2018) and had 576 yards (most since 1980). They’ve scored the sixth-most points in the NFL and allowed the fourth-most.