CINCINNATI — The Bengals pulled off a wild 30-24 win against the Denver Broncos in overtime on Saturday night. The result was full of improbable twists and turns, including a Bo Nix fourth-down heave to force overtime, Cade York doinking a 33-yard, game-winning field-goal attempt and Tee Higgins catching a walk-off touchdown before throwing the ball into the air in a celebration.
In actuality, none of that needed to happen. It should have ended with York attempting a chip shot game-winning field goal with about 10 seconds left in regulation.
GO DEEPER
Burrow keeps Bengals playoff hopes alive in wild 30-24 OT win over Broncos: Takeaways
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor stayed aggressive, throwing the ball with under two minutes remaining, including a play where Chase Brown was pushed out of bounds and an incompletion, both stopping the clock well within field-goal range.
Really, the largest problem was set off after Burrow hit Ja’Marr Chase for a first down at the 6-yard line and the Broncos called their second timeout with 1:39 remaining.
“I don’t know that anybody can stand on the field and watch Joe Burrow and say he’s not the best player in the world…” pic.twitter.com/9yOaPdiRqj
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) December 29, 2024
Instead of taking three knees, the Bengals opted to run the ball on first down with instructions for Brown to fall down before crossing the goal line if they tried to let him score. Brown followed orders when Denver let him go but with one major issue. He hurt his ankle on the play and couldn’t get off the field. It forced the Bengals to use an injury timeout and stop the clock.
“The injury changed everything,” Taylor said.
Now with second-and-goal at the 1 and 1:31 left Taylor was left with new math. He could take two knees and run the clock down to about 40 seconds remaining with a three-point lead. He could take a knee on second down and try to score on third, thus forcing Denver to burn its final timeout. Or he could just try to score on second down, ensuring they get the touchdown.
“Yeah, you can down it and make sure they use their timeout and then try to score a touchdown from there on third down and maybe try to kick if on fourth but it’s just — you saw our low red zone against them — it’s tough all day,” Taylor said.
The Bengals were twice on third- and fourth-and-short on their first drive of the game. Then they were stopped with goal-to-go from inside the 5 on two other possessions.
“They are going to play goal line against every personnel you got,” Taylor said. “Nothing was easy for us. Especially the runs down there because they got you so overmatched in personnel. We just ran a quarterback sneak and told Joe to score. If you score, great, if you don’t they will have to use their timeout and we will try something else. Then just put it on the defense to get the stop.”
Burrow sneaks for the lead with 1:29 left!
📺: #DENvsCIN on NFL Network
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/eP9p2IA2pN— NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2024
The defense did not when Nix drove the length of the field and hit Marvin Mims Jr. on fourth-and-1 for a touchdown with eight seconds left.
Taylor said opting not to take three knees at the end of regulation was about options. After all, they did have York at kicker, a December replacement for Evan McPherson (groin). York proved why they were shaky about him when he missed the 33-yarder in overtime. There might have been some scar tissue as well for Taylor considering that the Bengals lost a game to Baltimore in Week 5 when a snap and hold couldn’t get down in overtime on a McPherson game-winning attempt.
He specifically stated he did not consider taking three knees.
“No,” Taylor said. “We were just going to keep running the ball and try to get what we could and try to get down there. There is going to be a lot we can talk about that we felt good about our decision there just to get down to the 1. You are never assuming there is going to be an injury. That’s not what you are factoring in. You are trying to get as close as possible to keep all options on the table. Our math said there was going to be around 10 seconds to kick the walk-off and then the injury immediately changed everything. You have to pivot and have a whole other conversation.”
The conversation led to the Bengals having to anticipate Denver’s strategy with the Broncos only needing a tie to clinch the playoffs. It only added to the dynamics of the game-management situations that played a major role in how the game unfolded.
“That was really hard for me to process because people were asking me what Denver needed to do,” Taylor said. “We are just trying to win the game … It is an interesting situation. There is a lot going through your mind. You are having to process it, make really quick decisions. It was a tough game. There is going to be a lot we are going to review over the next several years, I’m sure, from this game that will teach us a lot about how to handle some of these situations. But I thought our communication was really good in some really challenging situations we were in.”
(Photo: Katie Stratman / Imagn Images)
