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The Cincinnati Bengals struck gold by acquiring Joe Flacco as an emergency fill-in quarterback during the 2025 NFL season. Unfortunately, they neglected to find anything of, well, any value on the defensive side of the ball.
Weeks after outdueling Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers for a prime-time upset, Flacco aired it out to the tune of 470 yards and four touchdowns against the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Yet the Bengals' notoriously porous defense once again overshadowed the offensive efforts, with Cincinnati surrendering 47 points to Caleb Williams and Co. in a high-scoring 47-42 defeat.
Flacco rallied the Bengals from down 41-27 with fewer than five minutes to play, hurling last-minute scores to tight end Noah Fant and reserve wideout Andrei Iosivas. But Williams needed just 37 seconds to drive Chicago 72 yards for the game-winning score, hitting rookie Colston Loveland for a 58-yard touchdown on a play in which multiple Bengals defensive backs whiffed on tackle attempts.
Chicago finished with a whopping 576 yards against Al Golden's Bengals defense, which entered the game ranked dead last in the NFL in yards allowed per game (407.9). Kyle Monangai ran wild as part of Chi-Town's taking advantage of the Bengals' defense, eclipsing 175 rushing yards in place of the injured D'Andre Swift. And Loveland had a career day with 118 yards on six catches.
The Bengals, who fell to 3-6 with the loss, are now 1-4 when scoring at least 38 points this year, despite going 54-4 under such circumstances prior to the 2025 campaign. Cincinnati is also the second team in NFL history to score 38 points in back-to-back games and lose both.
