Eric Edholm’s takeaways:
- Bears survived a nearly disastrous meltdown in Cincy. The Bears led, 41-27, (after having a defensive touchdown nullified) with just over two minutes left but watched Joe Flacco continue to come at them, with the Bengals eventually taking the lead with under a minute left. But Caleb Williams made some massive plays to keep the final drive alive, hitting Colston Loveland on a 58-yard TD with 17 seconds left, thanks to a missed tackle in open space. It capped a wild offensive shootout that saw the Bears accumulate 576 yards of offense and 47 points, but the defensive breakdowns – against a beat-up Flacco who was a question mark to even play Sunday – loomed large. You have to tip your hat to Williams and the Bears’ offense for bailing the team out of a potentially awful loss, but three offensive turnovers, a putrid special teams performance and the defensive collapse can’t be ignored.
- Bengals suffered another demoralizing loss, thanks to the defense. That’s two straight games where Joe Flacco and the offense have done more than enough to win the game, but the Bengals’ defense did everything in its power to give the games away at home. A banged-up Flacco engineered an insane comeback, trailing by 14 points with just over two minutes left, giving the Bengals an improbable lead with 54 seconds remaining. But after the Bengals’ defense got a rare stop on the previous possession, they couldn’t finish the game off, allowing Caleb Williams to scramble 14 yards for a first down and then hit Colston Loveland for a game-winning 58-yard TD in the closing seconds. Jordan Battle was guilty of a terrible missed tackle on that play, highlighting a day full of defensive miscues for Cincinnati. The Bears were about as bad on special teams as you’ll ever see a victorious team be, and their defense looked cooked by game’s end, but the Bengals just couldn’t finish it off. Another gutting loss.
- Bears’ game thrived with unexpected contributors. With D’Andre Swift out, Bears coach Ben Johnson called on two backs – with a combined 42 NFL carries coming in – to spearhead a rushing attack that mauled the Bengals for 283 yards in Chicago’s road victory. Rookie Kyle Monangai was the star, running 26 times for 176 yards, continually barreling through Bengals defenders on several highlight runs. Brittain Brown also earned his first five NFL carries (in his first NFL game since the 2022 season), including a shocking 22-yard TD that gave the Bears a two-TD lead. Caleb Williams also did work as a scrambler, and DJ Moore had what should have been the game-capping TD on a 16-yard end around. In a game where Rome Odunze had zero catches and Williams had two catches, Johnson emptied the tank as a play-caller. Four Bears attempted passes, and Chicago needed every one of its 30 first downs to finish this thriller off.
Next Gen Stats Insight for Bears-Bengals (via NFL Pro): Joe Flacco completed 31 of 47 passes for 470 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions in the Bengals’ Week 9 loss to the Bears. He averaged 9.3 air yards per attempt, his highest mark since joining the Bengals by 2.4 air yards. Flacco was effective on downfield passes (10-plus air yards), going 13 of 18 for 312 yards with three touchdowns and a Hail Mary interception.
NFL Research: In Week 8, the Bengals allowed a game-winning touchdown pass by Jets RB Breece Hall, and on Sunday they allowed an opening-drive TD pass by WR DJ Moore. The last team to allow a passing TD by non-QBs in consecutive games was the 1992 Dallas Cowboys (via Broncos WR Arthur Marshall and Washington RB Earnest Byner).
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