ANALYSIS: 5 takeaways from Bengals’ win over Browns

Cincinnati (7-8), which completed its first “Battle of Ohio” sweep since 2017, now carries a three-game winning streak into a big game against Denver on Saturday with its playoff hopes still alive.

Here are five takeaways from the win Sunday:

1. Playoff hopes alive

Cincinnati still has to win its final two games and get some help, but the team’s playoff chances have continued to improve during its first three-game winning streak of the season. The Chargers beating the Broncos on Thursday helped as well, but if the Bengals take care of their own business, they also will need the Chiefs to beat Denver in the finale and the Dolphins and Colts have to lose at least once.

The Dolphins (6-8) were playing the 49ers in one of the 4:30 p.m. games Sunday, then wrap up with the Browns and Jets. Indianapolis (7-8) beat the Titans on Sunday and faces the Giants and Jaguars in the final two games.

“This is what it’s supposed to feel like for us,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “This is our expectation and we’ve just put ourselves in a position to now play some really meaningful games.”

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

2. Defense comes up big

The Bengals not only held the Browns to a single touchdown but they also had three takeaways in the game and five sacks, including two from rookie Kris Jenkins. Cincinnati has forced 11 turnovers the past three weeks.

Two interceptions in the fourth quarter helped prevent a comeback, after Cleveland had gotten a 4-yard touchdown run from Jerome Ford on its first drive of the half to make it 17-6 and reached the redzone on the next one. Jordan Battle picked off Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s pass intended for David Njoku in the endzone on a third-and-7 from the 8-yard line with 13:32 left. Geno Stone pressured Thompson-Robinson, who was making his first start of the season, into a bad throw on that one and then got an interception himself the next series.

Cincinnati missed a chance to put the game away after the second pick when Burrow took a sack and fumbled on a third-and-goal from the 1-yard line with about four minutes left, but the defense got stops on the final two drives. Burrow connected with Chase for the last score in between.

In the first half, Vonn Bell prevented the Browns from scoring from the 1-yard line when he punched the ball out of D’Onta Freeman’s hands at the goal line and recovered the fumble. The play originally was ruled a touchdown, but was overturned on review. That swung the momentum early after Ford had opened the game with a 66-yard run.

“Just making plays when we had the opportunity,” cornerback Mike Hilton said. “Vonn (Bell)’s forced fumble and recovery set the tone, and guys just made big plays after that. Them getting the (66)-yard run was a bad situation, but we (tightened) up on the one-yard line and kept points off the board.”

3. Record days for Burrow and Chase

Both Burrow and Chase set franchise records Sunday, though it was mainly a quiet day for the two until their late touchdown play, which came on a free pass when the Bengals drew the Browns offside.

Burrow topped 4,000 yards for the season and became the first Bengals quarterback to reach that mark in three different seasons. He also did it in 2021 and 2022. Burrow finished with 252 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions but one fumble.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Chase broke his own single-season receiving yards record with his fourth catch of the day, on a drive that ended with Andrei Iosivas catching a 6-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0 midway through the second quarter. He came into the game needing 43 yards to top the 1,455 yards he recorded in 2022 and that catch put him at 50 yards for the day. Chase finished with 97 yards and one touchdown on six catches, and now has 108 receptions for 1,510 yards and 16 touchdowns for the season.

The 2021 first-round draft pick needs just five more catches to break T.J. Houshmandzadeh’s franchise record of 112 receptions in 2007 and two more touchdowns to break Carl Pickens’ record of 17 touchdowns in 1995.

4. Tough day for the O-line

Burrow’s performance looks even better than it did on paper because of how he handled heavy pressure from a strong Browns defensive line that finished with 16 pressures — four sacks, three hits and nine hurries.

His first touchdown, to Tee Higgins, came from a horizontal position as he tripped and completed the 2-yard pass as he hit the ground. He wasn’t touched by a defender, so the touchdown was good, but he had a few other similar plays like that while he was escaping pressure.

The Bengals were once again without left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., who continues to nurse a lower leg injury suffered in the first game against the Browns in Week 7. The Bengals then lost right tackle Amarius Mims in the third quarter. Mims had gone to the medical tent late in the second quarter and returned to the game, but his last play came with just over 11 minutes left in the third quarter due to a left ankle injury that was announced later.

Devin Cochran, who got his first NFL start last week when Cody Ford was out because of illness, stepped in for Mims and finished the game. Taylor said it was “hit or miss” whether Mims could return, so his status moving forward is unclear, but Mims going out did impact the offense, which was shut out for the first 28 minutes of the second half.

“I mean it’s a great front,” Taylor said. “It’s a great defense. So yeah, when you lose a starting lineman, that affects you.”

5. York ties franchise record

Cade York has been with the Bengals for three weeks, and he’s already tied Evan McPherson’s record, set in 2022, for longest field goal in franchise history.

His 59-yard field goal as time expired to end the first half sent the Bengals into the break with a 17-0 lead, and it just so happened to come against his former team. York, who has replaced McPherson while he’s been out with a groin injury, made up for a 47-yarder he missed earlier in the game.

“Evan came up to me talking crap like, ‘Don’t do that again or I’m going to have to come back,’ or something like that, just being funny,” York said of the record.

York said he wasn’t thinking of Sunday’s game as a chance for redemption after the Browns cut him in August 2023 and traded him before his second stint really could begin this past August.

“I don’t really carry a chip on my shoulder for that,” he said. “I love everyone over there. I enjoyed my time there, and I guess I just enjoy the whole state of Ohio now, but it was nice to beat them for sure.”

SATURDAY’S GAME

Broncos at Bengals, 4:30 p.m., NFL Network, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7