Maybe Joe Flacco wasn’t the problem for the Cleveland Browns after all.
The 40-year-old Flacco looked ready for retirement after a 1-3 start this season in Cleveland. The Browns then decided to trade him within the AFC North to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Flacco showed he still has something left in the tank in prime time on Thursday against the Steelers. He was 31-of-47 passing for 342 yards, notching three touchdowns and no interceptions. Flacco also led a game-winning drive in the 33-31 victory.
“It’s honestly good having him here for us,” said Bengals star receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who had a franchise-record 16 catches. “Organization made a big jump on him. We believed in him. We got him. He came in, doing his thing and showing off for us.”
In two games with the Bengals, Flacco has passed for 561 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. He had just two touchdowns with the Browns in his four starts.
Browns Catch Heat After Joe Flacco’s Big Night
The Browns didn’t even play on Thursday, but somehow ended up looking like the biggest losers. Cincinnati fans chanted “Thank you, Cleveland” as Flacco turned back the clock and carved up the Steelers, a brutal reminder of the offensive struggles the Browns can’t seem to shake.
“This Joe Flacco game is hilarious,” Zac Jackson of The Athletic wrote on X. “It will not be funny to the Browns’ locker room or in the biggest office upstairs.”
“Good for Joe Flacco,” Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 The Fan said. “Browns look incredibly stupid and incompetent tonight.”
The front office got heat for moving Flacco. But coach Kevin Stefanski — also the offensive play-caller in Cleveland — also took his fair share of criticism.
“I’m watching Joe Flacco go down the field and it makes me pissed at Stefanski,” a fan said. “The system is terrible, the play designs are terrible, the players play on training wheels — it’s just so bad man! We need a real offensive coach.”
Another fan added, “This is an even bigger indictment on Kevin Stefanski. Flacco balling right now proves that the issue is squarely on Stefanski playcalling and schemes. It’s not all on the players. They’re being coached to do what they do on the field.”
Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin Knew Impact of Browns’ Joe Flacco Trade
The yield from the Flacco trade was a pick swap between the Browns and Cincinnati, with the Browns receiving a 2026 fifth-round pick and the Bengals receiving Flacco and a 2026 sixth-round pick. Cleveland felt the value was fair, but one vocal critic of the trade was Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. He recognized that adding Flacco could instantly revive the Bengals’ offense — a unit that had struggled to find rhythm since Joe Burrow’s injury in Week 2.
“To be honest, it was shocking to me,” Tomlin said Monday. “Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us because it doesn’t make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent that’s hurting in that area, but that’s just my personal feelings.”
The Browns do not face the Bengals until January 4. By then, Burrow could potentially be back and Flacco may be backing him up. Tomlin and the Steelers will have to deal with Flacco again in Week 11.
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