CINCINNATI — Joe Flacco passed for 342 yards and three touchdowns, Evan McPherson made a 36-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining and the Cincinnati Bengals snapped a four-game losing streak with a 33-31 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night.
Acquired from the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 7, the 40-year-old Flacco completed 31 of 47 passes in his second Cincinnati start, and outdueled 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers in only the third regular-season game between starting quarterbacks in their 40s.
It was the 23rd fourth-quarter comeback of Flacco’s 18-year career.
“This is a huge win. We needed it,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said.
Rodgers went 22 of 32 for 244 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. He gave Pittsburgh (4-2) a 31-30 advantage with 2:31 remaining on a 68-yard touchdown to Pat Freiermuth. On second-and-20, Rodgers rolled left and found Freiermuth open downfield. The fifth-year tight end caught the ball at the Bengals 36 after getting separation from safety Geno Stone and scored his second touchdown.
Flacco led the Bengals (3-4) 52 yards in eight plays, including completions of 15 and 18 yards to Ja’Marr Chase get Cincinnati into Pittsburgh territory. The 18-year veteran then found Tee Higgins for a 28-yard gain to the Steelers 5 with 1:39 remaining to put the Bengals well within McPherson’s range.
Chase had a franchise-record 16 receptions for 161 yards and a TD, making him the fourth receiver in NFL history with two games of at least 14 catches in a single season. Higgins finished with six catches for 96 yards and a score. Noah Fant also had a TD reception.
The Bengals scored on seven of their last eight possessions and won for the first time since Joe Burrow went down with a toe injury Sept. 14. Jake Browning struggled in his three starts after Burrow’s injury, prompting the Bengals to acquire Flacco from their AFC North rival.
Chase Brown had 108 rushing yards on 11 carries, the second 100-yard game of his career.
Freiermuth had four catches for 106 yards for the Steelers. Jaylen Warren ran for 127 yards on 16 carries.
Bengals rally in second quarter
Pittsburgh jumped out to a 10-0 lead on Chris Boswell’s 41-yard field goal early in the second quarter before Rodgers’ passes was picked off on consecutive drives.
Cincinnati scored a touchdown in the first half for the first time in five games with 4:42 remaining in the first half when Flacco found Chase in the left corner of the end zone for an 8-yard score.
The Bengals then converted a Rodgers’ interceptions into points. On the first play of the next drive, Jordan Battle picked off a deep ball intended for Metcalf at the Bengals 24. Three plays later, Flacco’s 29-yard quick slant to Higgins gave Cincinnati its first lead since the first quarter of the Week 4 Monday night game at Denver.
Higgins caught the ball at the Steelers 20 and went untouched to put the Bengals up 14-10. After DJ Turner picked off Flacco’s pass along the left sideline at the Cincinnati 30 with 40 seconds remaining, McPherson botted a 49-yard field goal on the last play of the first half to make it 17-10 at halftime.
All day and night
The Steelers scored a touchdown on an opening drive for the third time this season when Jonnu Smith caught a 10-yard pass from Rodgers with 10:51 remaining in the first quarter.
Rodgers held onto the ball for 8.598 seconds before connecting with Smith in the end zone. It was Rodgers’ longest time to throw on a completion since the NFL’s Next Gen Stats started tracking in 2016.
His previous high was 8.592 seconds on a 10 yard TD to Geronimo Allison in Week 17 of the 2016 season.
Injuries
Bengals: DE Trey Hendrickson was inactive due to a hip injury he suffered during the first half of last week at Green Bay.
Up next
Steelers: Host Green Bay in a prime-time game Oct. 26.
Bengals: Host the New York Jets on Oct. 26.