Bengals 20, Titans 16
The Titans wanted to defeat the Bengals to avenge their playoff loss, but Cincinnati spent much of the afternoon beating itself with crucial mistakes. The Bengals were constantly starting in bad field position because of penalties on special teams. Tee Higgins ruined a possession with offensive pass interference in the second quarter, and a third-quarter hold moved the Bengals out of field goal range.
Still, this was a 13-all game when the Bengals finally got their act together. Joe Burrow fired a pass to Trenton Irwin, who made a terrific catch on third-and-12, which set up a touchdown pass to Higgins. The Bengals took a 20-13 lead, and following a Tennessee field goal, they tried their best to keep the ball away from the Titans for the final six minutes. Burrow did this with some clutch conversions, but ultimately stalled in the red zone. Cincinnati was content to kick a field goal to go up seven again with two minutes remaining, but the Titans finally made the crucial error. They were flagged for unnecessary roughness, allowing the Bengals to kneel down as a result of Tennessee using up all of its timeouts.
Burrow began the game slowly, but performed better as the afternoon progressed. He finished 22-of-37 for 270 yards and a touchdown. He also scrambled nine times for 32 rushing yards. The difference between his victory in this game and the one from the playoffs back in January was the pass protection. He was sacked nine times in the postseason victory, yet he went down just once in this contest.
Higgins had a huge game, with Burrow’s sole touchdown going to him. The Titans often put the clamps on No. 1 receivers, but that was not the case with Higgins, who caught seven of his nine targets for 114 yards. Hayden Hurst (6-57) was next on the receiving chart, while Tyler Boyd (2-16) was a big disappointment. Boyd took a crushing hit after making a reception, but didn’t miss much action.
