CINCINNATI — The hole just got deeper for the Bengals.
Jayden Daniels threw two touchdown passes and ran for another and the Washington offense scored on its first six possessions to register a 38-33 win over the Bengals on Monday night.
Many of the sellout 66,207 rained boos down on the underachieving Stripes as the Bengals fell to 0-3 for the first time since Zac Taylor’s first season in 2019.
Led by the dynamic No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft, Daniels led his offense to touchdowns in their first four possessions as the Commander (2-1) won for the second straight week. Daniels, who completed 21-of-23 passes for 254 yards, then sealed the game with a 27-yard pass touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin with just over two minutes left.
McLaurin finished with four catches for 100 yards.
Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow completed 29-of-38 passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns while Ja’Marr Chase caught six passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns.
Zack Moss scored on a one-yard run with 40 seconds left but the Bengals could not recover the onside kick and Washington ran out the clock.
The Bengals showed energy on the opening drive and star receiver Ja’Marr Chase recorded his first touchdown grab of the season.
On first-and-10 from the Washington 41, Burrow spotted Chase in man-to-man coverage and tossed a perfect pass to Chase on a deep fade for the touchdown that put Cincinnati up, 7-0. It was also Burrow’s 100th career passing touchdown in his 55th game, tied for seventh fastest to 100 in NFL history.
We’ve been waiting for this 😏@JoeyB to @Real10jayy__
📺: #WASvsCIN on ABCpic.twitter.com/1kPdD6SbsL
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) September 24, 2024
But the Commanders answered with a pair of dominating offensive possessions. On the first one, Jayden Daniels converted 4th-and-2 from the Cincinnati 32 with a 30-yard pass to Luke McCaffrey to the Cincinnati 2. After Cincinnati committed a pair of penalties, including 12 men on defense and a neutral zone infraction at the 2 before Brian Robinson Jr. went in from two yards to tie the game.
The Bengals lost starting right tackle Trent Brown to a right knee injury in the second quarter.
After Evan McPherson missed his first field goal in six tries this season, from 48 yards, the Commanders marched 62 yards in seven plays, capped by Austin Ekeler’s 24-yard run for a touchdown.
“I think this town will let you know when they're not happy with you, and rightfully so. And we have a lot of, you know, educated and passionate fans and we're all in three, and so we're going to take it off the chin for a while.” Ted Karras pic.twitter.com/a2Shr12lRW
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) September 24, 2024
The Bengals offense moved the ball on their third drive but it stalled and the Bengals settled for McPherson’s 28-yard field goal, cutting Washington’s lead to 14-10.
The boos got louder when Jayden Daniels lofted a perfect pass and beat Cam Taylor-Britt with a 55-yard rainbow that landed in the arms of Terry McLaurin. One play later, it was Jayden Daniels on the keeper for the touchdown run, his third of his rookie season.
Cincinnati drove to Washington’s 13 but had to settle for McPherson’s 31-yard field goal and a 21-13 halftime deficit.
Austin Ekeler opened the second half with a 62-yard return to the Cincinnati 33 but took a hit and was taken out of the game and evaluated for a possible concussion. Nine plays after the return, Daniels found tackle eligible Trent Scott for a 1-yard touchdown and a 28-13 Commanders lead.
Cincinnati began to rally as Burrow finished one third quarter drive with a fourth down 2-yard TD pass to Andrei Iosivas and a 31-yard sideline strike to Chase to cut Washington’s lead to 31-26 with 9:42 left in the fourth.
