Chase Brown scored three touchdowns and the Bengals defense forced three turnovers in a 21-point third quarter as the Bengals enjoyed a 45-21 rout of the Miami Dolphins Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. Brown finished with 12 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown run and caught four passes for 43 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
The Bengals improved to 5-10 on the season while the Dolphins fell to 6-9. The Bengals led 45-14 with 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter and fell just short of the 50-point mark for the first time since the epic 58-48 win over the Browns at Paul Brown Stadium on Nov. 28, 2004. The Bengals finish the season with a 3-5 road mark and have home games against Arizona next Sunday and Cleveland on Jan. 4 to finish the season.
Joe Burrow completed 16-of-22 for 193 yards and a touchdown in the first half and was done after three quarters, completing 25-of-32 passes for 309 yards and four touchdowns. He had a near-perfect 146.5 rating. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins also finished playing just three quarters. Higgins came back from his second concussion in three weeks and made a big impact on Cincinnati’s second drive, catching a 35-yard pass and a toe-tapping 9-yard touchdown for Cincinnati’s first score of the day. Higgins finished with three catches on three targets for 53 yards. Higgins now has 10 touchdown catches on the season.
Chase caught nine passes on 11 targets for 109 yards but failed again to catch a touchdown for an eighth straight game.
On defense, the game turned on three turnovers in the third quarter, with Jordan Battle forcing a fumble recovered by Myles Murphy, Josh Newton forcing a deflected pass off a receiver into the arms of Barrett Carter for an interception and Jalen Davis with an athletic pick down the sideline of Dolphins rookie Quinn Ewers, making his first NFL start. The Bengals’ defense also stopped Ewers on a fourth-down quarterback sneak. The Bengals scored touchdowns on all four momentum swings.
Ewers, starting for the benched Tua Tagovailoa, finished 20-of-30 for 260 yards and two interceptions. Miami led 14-10 on a 48-yard touchdown run by De’Von Achane and a 10-yard run by Malik Washington in the second quarter. But then the Bengals scored 35 straight points before Jaylen Wright’s late touchdown run for Miami.
Evan McPherson gave the Bengals a 10-7 lead with a 45-yard field that caromed off the left upright and through to the net. It was McPherson’s first field goal attempt since making all six on Thanksgiving night in the 32-14 win over the Ravens in Baltimore. He did not attempt a field goal against Bills in the snow and did not attempt a kick in the 24-0 shutout last week to Baltimore.
The Bengals answered with a 60-second drive that featured a cross-body toss from Burrow to Drew Sample as Burrow was scrambling out of the pocket. The throw on third-and-10 was good for 27 yards down to the Miami 11. Following a personal foul facemask on a Perine run, Perine r
In his first NFL start, Quinn Ewers completed 10-of-12 passes in the first half for 109 yards and wasn’t sacked. He felt little pressure and was able to make most of his progression reads.
At halftime, Zac Taylor mentioned on the network broadcast the need to create a turnover and take command of the game. That’s exactly what the Bengals got at a critical moment early in the third quarter.
De’Von Achane caught a swing pass from Ewers and raced down the left side on a picket-fence of blocking for 31 yards to the Cincinnati 33. But on the play, receiver Theo Wease, making his NFL debut, was called for offensive pass interference despite clearly trying to avoid contact across the middle. On the next play, Jordan Battle forced a turnover on a reception by tight end Greg Dulcich over the middle and Myles Murphy recovered.
Then, on the very next Miami possession, Josh Newton timed his breakup of a pass for Theo Wease perfectly. The ball bounced off Wease and into the hands of linebacker Barrett Carter, who returned it 16 yards to the Miami 35. Chase Brown then took care of the 35 yards on the next two plays, a 23-yard pass reception over the middle and a 12-yard untouched run up the middle, featuring a nice cutback into the end zone for a 31-14 lead. Two touchdowns in 71 seconds and the Bengals had a stranglehold on the game.
The Bengals defense then stopped Miami on its next series on fourth-and-1 and the Bengals took over at their own 47.
Burrow finished his day with a 17-yard touchdown strike over the middle to Mike Gesicki to finish up the Bengals scoring with 13:32 left in the fourth quarter.
