Cincinnati halts 31-year drought
CINCINNATI — Paul Brown Stadium nearly shook in triumph. The city of Cincinnati might have, too.
Its latest hero, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, merely seemed to shrug after leading his team to its first playoff victory in 31 years, 26-19 over Las Vegas on Saturday in an AFC wildcard game.
“It’s exciting for the city, for the state, but we are not going to dwell on that, we are moving forward,” said Burrow, who threw two touchdown passes. “This is expected, this isn’t like the icing on top of the cake, this is the cake. So we are moving on.”
Burrow led an efficient offense that scored on six drives, Evan McPherson became the first rookie to make four field goals without a miss in a postseason debut and Germaine Pratt sealed it with a fourth-down interception in the dying seconds.
It was a victory three decades in the making for the Bengals (11-7). After going from worst to first in the AFC North with a generally young roster, they ended that long postseason drought that included eight straight defeats.
“Who Dey” indeed. Bengals coach Zac Taylor said game balls were going to team owner Mike Brown and to the city itself.
“Some of them might not understand the significance of what happened today,” he said of his players. “The city can finally enjoy … this team and take the pressure off of the last 31 years. Today was significant for a lot of people.”
Their next opponent will depend on results in the other two AFC wild-card games this weekend.
“It’s going to be fun tomorrow to watch the games knowing we have the win,” said Burrow, the top overall selection in the 2020 draft who led the NFL in completion percentage this season. He went 24 for 34 for 244 yards Saturday.
Helped by some problematic officiating by Jerome Boger’s crew that might have allowed Burrow’s touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd to count when it shouldn’t have, the Bengals also extended a lengthy postseason drought for the Raiders (10-8). Las Vegas, which won its final four games to squeeze into the playoffs, last won in the postseason in the 2002 AFC Championship Game.
“We just ran out of time today,” said interim Raiders coach Rich Bisaccia. “We did some uncharacteristic things with some penalties and gave up some drives and didn’t capitalize when we had it in the red zone at times. So it just didn’t go our way today.”
Daniel Carlson, the league’s top scorer, made a 47-yard field goal on the game’s opening possession, and the Bengals countered. And kept scoring, though mostly field goals. Burrow took Cincinnati 75 yards in 10 plays, connecting with C.J. Uzomah in the front of the end zone from the 7 to make it 7-3. Burrow threw for 65 yards on the drive and Uzomah celebrated his score with the Ickey Shuffle.
Ja’Marr Chase, who had nine receptions for 116 yards, kept victimizing the Raiders, his 38-yard reception getting the Bengals to the 6. McPherson made a 30-yarder for a 13-3 lead. It soon was 13-6 on Carlson’s 28yard field goal.
Then came Boyd’s touchdown, followed by an impressive two-minute drill covering 80 yards for Las Vegas, capped by Carr’s 14-yard pass to Zay Jones that made it 20-13. McPherson, a fifthround draft pick last April, made two more second-half field goals, as did Carlson.
Carr finished 29 of 54 for 310 yards.
“I think Germaine has made a really big step this year,” Taylor said. ”I thought last year was a good step, I think this year he has made a tremendous jump. Super reliable for us.”