For the first time in over a month the Bengals won a football game. When you look back at the 2024 season it’s been mostly a nightmare. Ever dreamed you were running from a monster, and no matter how good of a hiding place you think you have, he always finds you? That’s Bengals ’24. Games ending the same way. Cincy battling it out with (you pick the team). Game comes down to the last minute. A missed field goal, …a missed tackle, …a missed extra point, …something, ..anything from keeping the Bengals out of the win column.
For once the game came down to the end and the script was written differently. It was the Dallas Cowboys who this time have to have the nightmare of sayin, “If we’d have just done this, we’d have won.”
The Bengals were in deep trouble against Dallas late in the game. Dallas partially blocked a punt. A Cowboy player made the unforgivable mistake of touching the punt that went right into the Bengals hands. It was the Bengals two best players, the usual suspects of Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase that took care of the rest.
Burrow torched the Cowboy defense going 33-44 for 369 yards. Chase did his usual damage catching 14 balls for 177 yards.
As sweet as the 27-20 victory over the Cowboys was, it still may be too little to late. Cincinnati is still on the outside looking in for the playoffs. Denver, Indianapolis, Miami and Cincinnati are all fighting for the seventh and final playoff spot. Unfortunately, Cincinnati has the longest odds of the four. Odds makers put the Bengals playoff chances at 3% to get in.
Remaining on the schedule are the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, and Pittsburg Steelers. It’s a bitter pill to swallow for the 513 team. If a win would have fallen this way or that way giving the Bengals one or two more wins, they could possibly be on the inside looking out. On the other hand the Bengal defense has been gashed this season. The defense was even gashed against the Cowboys. Rico Dowdle ran on the Bengal defense for 131 yards. Cincy had no answer for him.
Well, at least for one day, Who Dey Nation got a chance to see a Bengal ending they’ve been accustomed to seeing so many times over the past 3 years. The Bengals finishing with a win. When the team looks back on the 2024 season, the one thing they can take into future seasons is what NOT to do.