CINCINNATI — Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse.
Meet the 2025 Bengals defense. After one of the more heroic quarterback performances in franchise history, the defense found a way to completely and utterly mess themselves with a collapse that may have outdone the epic fail one week earlier against a winless Jets team.
Caleb Williams found Colston Loveland with 17 seconds left for a 58-yard go-ahead touchdown to lead the visiting Chicago Bears to a wild 47-42 win over the Bengals Sunday at Paycor Stadium. Those 25,000 or so who left early fearing they missed a miraculous comeback could take comfort in the fact that this Bengals defense is historically bad at tackling, with apparently an attitude to match.
Loveland caught the pass at the Cincinnati 40 and broke a Jordan Battle tackle attempt and outraced the Cincinnati secondary for the score. The game ended on the interception of Joe Flacco’s Hail Mary pass 20 yards shy of the end zone. Loveland had a pair of touchdown grabs and stepped up for Cole Kmet, who didn’t play in the second half due to a concussion.
Flacco, playing with a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder, completed 31-of-47 passes and threw for a career-high 470 yards and four touchdowns for the Bengals (3-6), who lost for the sixth time in seven games.
Several defensive players, including Shemar Stewart and TJ Slaton laughed off interview requests following the meltdown and said, “catch you on Monday.” Also declining were Battle Kris Jenkins Jr. and Myles Murphy.
Trailing 41-27 with under two minutes left, Joe Flacco threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Noah Fant and a two-point conversion The Bengals recovered an onside kick with a 1:43 left when Chicago’s Daniel Hardy touched the ball and Oren Burks recovered.
Flacco then led the Bengals on a six-play, 57-yard drive, capped by 9-yard strike to Andrei Iosivas with 54 seconds remaining. The extra point was good and the Bengals led after trailing by 14 just a minute earlier. Caleb Williams then directed the game-winning drive.
Backup running back Kyle Monangai ran for 176 yards on 26 carries for the injured D’Andre Swift. The Bears ran up 576 yards of total offense against a porous Cincinnati defense, the second-straight week the Bengals have allowed at least 500 yards.
Williams completed his first touchdown pass in three games, finishing 20-of-34 for 280 yards and three touchdowns for the Bears (5-3).
Charlie Jones opened the game with a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown when he shot a gap up the left side and went untouched for a score that put the Bengals up, 7-0, just 11 seconds into the contest.
The Bengals then assisted the Bears on the next two drives with costly mistakes that led to two touchdowns.
Williams was sacked on third-and-10 by Joseph Ossai at the Chicago 41. But Cincinnati rookie linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. was called for illegal contact several yards beyond the line of scrimmage, allowing the drive to continue. Seven plays later, the Bears evened the score with a trick play when wide receiver DJ Moore took the handoff and tossed a two-yard pass to an uncovered Caleb Williams in the end zone.
A wild first-half continued when, following a Cairo Santos 24-yard field goal made it 17-13 Bears, the Bengals marched 63 yards in just two plays. Flacco found Ja’Marr Chase for 19 yards before a 44-yard strike from Flacco to Tee Higgins, who overpowered cornerback Nahshon Wright down the left sideline for the score and a 20-17 Cincinnati lead. The first half ended when Ossai blocked a 47-yard Santos field goal attempt.
The Bengals played the game without star defensive end Trey Hendrickson, who was out with a right hip injury suffered in last week’s loss to the New York Jets.
The Bears lost star tight end Cole Kmet late in the second quarter, as he was taken to the locker room to undergo concussion protocol. The Bears played the game without two running backs, including starting back D’Andre Swift.
Before the game, the Bengals held a moment of silence before the game for former tight end Bob Trumpy, who died early Sunday morning at the age of 80. Trumpy was a star on the Bengals from their inaugural year in 1968 through 1977 before becoming a well-known football broadcaster for NBC, announcing four Super Bowls and three Olympics.
Cedric Johnson made his 2025 debut for the Bengals.
