The Cincinnati Bengals had looked lost ever since Joe Burrow, their starting quarterback and one of the brightest stars in the entire NFL, was sidelined for months by a toe injury in early September.
Four consecutive losses had dropped the Bengals to 2-4 entering Week 7.
Yet on Thursday, they may have found their answer to a midseason surge in an unexpected place: Joe Flacco, a 40-year-old father of five wasn't even sure he would still be in the NFL this season, and who took over as the starter in Cincinnati only last week.
Ten days after losing one job as the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback and earning another in Cincinnati via a rare intradivision trade, Flacco looked as comfortable Thursday in a 33-31 win against Pittsburgh as though he had been operating the Bengals' offense since training camp.
Pittsburgh spent $163 million in payroll on its defense in the offseason, according to Over The Cap, however Flacco and top receiver Ja'Marr Chase repeatedly found holes on routes requiring precision timing. Flacco completed 31 of his 47 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns. Chase caught a career-high 16 of those passes for 161 yards and a touchdown.
During a postgame interview with Amazon after the game, Flacco said he couldn't always hear the formations that were being called in by coaches via his in-helmet communication system. He engineered his 30th career come-from-behind win in the fourth quarter or overtime, anyway.
"Man, it was a lot of fun," Flacco said after the game.
Flacco is only a Bengal because of a benching in Cleveland that was not wholly surprising. Flacco was signed in the offseason to be an experienced placeholder while Cleveland evaluated its pair of rookie quarterbacks. But after Flacco completed just 58% of his passes through four games, with three times as many interceptions as touchdowns, he was replaced by rookie Dillon Gabriel. Flacco's lack of mobility had contributed to his nine sacks.
But on Thursday, Flacco looked spry running for a 12-yard gain deep in his own territory. When Pittsburgh double covered both Chase and Tee Higgins, Flacco said he recognized the coverage immediately after breaking the huddle and instead found another receiver for a 37-yard gain.
For all of the Bengals' trials without Burrow, they are 2-0 in their division. Flacco spent most of his postgame interview chuckling about the unpredictable last 10 days that have landed him back in the NFL's spotlight in his 18th season.
“This game is so great and I think sometimes when you’ve played it for so long ... you can lose some of that energy you have for it," Flacco said. "But I think it’s all about our mind and telling yourself that this is one of the best things in the world."
Cleveland found a suitor for Flacco in Cincinnati, which was rapidly losing ground in the playoff race after three straight losses with Jake Browning as Burrow's backup. The Bengals considered 13 different trade targets before landing on Flacco, according to Sports Illustrated. It was the first intradivision, midseason trade involving a quarterback since 1990, per ESPN research.
"To be honest, it was shocking to me," Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin told reporters. "(Cleveland general manager) Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us, because it doesn’t make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent that’s hurting in that area. But that’s just my personal feelings."
In his Bengals debut Oct. 12, Flacco threw for two touchdowns, completing 29 of 45 passes in a loss at Green Bay. He was able to step in and operate a new offense on four days' notice in part because the offense wasn't entirely new. During his 18 NFL seasons, Flacco had already overlapped with some of the Bengals' offensive coaching staff and run plays coach Zac Taylor still used.
“On Day 1, he’s been impressive just with his ability to recall the plays,” Bengals running back Chase Brown said in a postgame interview with Amazon.
By Thursday, his second game with the Bengals, Flacco looked as though he had entirely settled in. After a touchdown pass by Pittsburgh quarterback Aaron Rodgers — at 41, the only active quarterback older than Flacco — put the Steelers ahead 31-30 with two minutes remaining in regulation, Flacco went back to targeting Burrow's longtime favorite receiver, and his newest one: Chase.
Then Flacco’s deep pass up a sideline to the Bengals’ other star wideout, Higgins, set up the game-winning field goal with seven seconds left. He was asked after the game whether he believed his kids were still awake watching when the game finished after 11 p.m. ET.
"I'm guessing mom let them stay up for this one," Flacco said.
