Bengals Overcome Injuries, Outlast Broncos, 15-10, To Move Into First Place

DENVER — The Bengals managed to overcome the odds Sunday.

Joe Burrow’s 56-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd gave the Bengals the lead late in the third quarter and the defense held on to lead the Bengals to a 15-10 win over the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High.

The win was critical to the Bengals’ playoff hopes. Not only did they improve to 8-6, they dropped one of their key competitors to 7-7 with a tiebreaker in hand.

The Bengals have another critical game next Sunday against the Ravens at Paul Brown Stadium and could take complete control with a win. With Green Bay holding on for a 31-30 win over the Ravens in Baltimore, the Bengals move into first place in the AFC North for the first time since beat the Ravens on Oct. 24.

The Bengals had to overcome injuries to Hakeem Adeniji (ankle), Joe Mixon (left ankle), Khalid Kareem (concussion) and Joe Bachie (knee).

The Bengals drew first blood when Evan McPherson converted his eighth field goal in nine attempts of at least 50 yards when his 53-yarder split the uprights with 6:34 left in the first quarter.

Against the formidable duo of Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon III, the Bengals defense held its own early.

The defensive line, led by Khalid Kareem, were able to apply pressure to Broncos quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who was just 3-for-7 for 20 yards in the opening quarter.

The Broncos tied the game with a 50-plus-yard field goal of their own when Brandon McManus connected from 54 yards with 10:44 left in the first half. The Broncos appeared poised to take the lead just before half when Trae Waynes dropped a potential drive-ending interception.

But McManus slipped on the plant and pushed his 51-yarder wide right. With nine seconds left in the half, Burrow hit Tyler Boyd over the middle for 19 yards to the Denver 40. McPherson was brought on and just cleared the crossbar for the franchise record-setting kick from 58 yards out at the halftime gun, giving the Bengals a 6-3 lead at the break.

The Bengals and Broncos exchanged punts before the Bengals drove 72 yards in 11 plays. But the drive stalled, leaving the Bengals to settle for McPherson’s third field goal from 26 yards and. 9-3 Bengals lead.

On the next drive, with 5:47 left in the third, Bridgewater scrambled to his right on second-and-5 at the Denver 30 and was hit by B.J. Hill in the side. Bridgewater fell to the turf, head first and lay motionless for nearly five minutes, with the cart immediately coming out. After another 10 minutes of stabilization, and with the crowd chanting his name, Bridgewater was carted off the field, taken to a local hospital where he had movement in all extremities.

The Broncos responded with their first touchdown drive capped off by a 25-yard touchdown pass to Tim Patrick from Drew Lock. The extra point gave Denver its first lead, 10-9, with 1:15 left in the third. Two plays later, Burrow hit an uncovered Tyler Boyd for 56 yards to reclaim the lead with :30 left in the third quarter.

Denver responded by driving right back down the field, and was threatening in the red zone. That’s when Khalid Kareem stripped the ball from Lock and raced to the Bengals 38. He was stripped from behind by Garett Bolles, who recovered the ball. But replay showed Kareem was down by contact at the Cincinnati 15. Kareem was on the ground for several minutes as he was tended to for a head injury. He left the game in concussion protocol.

The Bengals defense then held Drew Lock and the Broncos in check for the rest of the game as the Bengals held on for just their fourth win ever in Denver, and their second at Empower Field.