Joe Burrow threw for 462 yards and five touchdowns, tied the game with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins with 1:17 left in regulation, and then scrambled 9 yards for the winning score in overtime as the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Tennessee Titans 43-36 on Sunday, November 1, at Paycor Stadium.
Cincinnati improves to 5-2 for the first time since 2021, and it came back from a 13-point first-half deficit for the second week in a row. Tennessee, a 13.5-point underdog, falls to 1-7 after losing a game it led by 13 in the first quarter for the second straight Sunday.
Tennessee’s fast start
The Titans scored on each of their first three drives. Joey Slye kicked a 46-yard field goal after Cam Ward converted a fourth-and-1 with a scramble, and Tony Pollard then broke four tackles on a 40-yard touchdown run up the right sideline. Amani Hooker intercepted Burrow’s deep throw for Ja’Marr Chase, and Slye’s 29-yarder made it 13-0 late in the first quarter.
Cincinnati answered early in the second quarter. A touchdown catch by Chase Brown was wiped out by holding, so on third-and-18 Burrow threw deep to Chase for a 30-yard touchdown instead. The Bengals then turned the ball over on downs at the Tennessee 5 when Jacob Martin sacked Burrow, but they got the ball back and Burrow hit rookie tight end Jack Endries for a 1-yard touchdown with 20 seconds left in the half for a 14-13 lead.
A wild second half
The third quarter swung back and forth. Hooker intercepted Burrow again, but on Tennessee’s next play Boye Mafe strip-sacked Ward, and Dexter Lawrence II rumbled 8 yards with the recovery to the Titans 17. Burrow hit Higgins for a 17-yard touchdown on the next snap. Tennessee went 80 yards in eight plays, and Pollard scored from the 1 before Ward ran in the two-point conversion to tie it at 21.
Hooker picked off Burrow a third time at the Tennessee 5, but two plays later Lawrence and Demetrius Knight Jr. tackled Pollard in the end zone for a safety and a 23-21 Bengals lead. Tennessee then forced a Brown fumble, and on the ensuing drive Chimere Dike recovered a Pollard fumble and later caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Ward to put the Titans ahead 28-23.
Burrow answered with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Mike Gesicki, but the two-point try failed and Cincinnati led just 29-28. Ward then led an eight-play, 68-yard drive, threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Wan’Dale Robinson with 3:46 left and found Gunnar Helm for the two-point conversion. Tennessee led 36-29.
Burrow finishes it
Before Burrow went back out, Lawrence had a message for him. “I looked at him and told him he was legendary and go be legendary,” Lawrence said. Burrow led a seven-play, 81-yard drive, and Higgins caught an 18-yard touchdown to tie the game at 36 with 1:17 left. Lawrence then sacked Ward for a 13-yard loss to push Tennessee out of field-goal range, and the game went to overtime.
Cincinnati received the kickoff and went 70 yards in five plays. On first-and-goal from the 9, Burrow scrambled to his left and walked into the end zone untouched. Tennessee had one possession to answer, but Ward’s fourth-and-3 pass to Elic Ayomanor fell incomplete at the Titans 35. It was the 10th game-winning drive of Burrow’s career and his fourth in overtime.
The numbers
- Joe Burrow: 38 of 48 for 462 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions, plus the overtime touchdown run. He joined Norm Van Brocklin in 1951 as the only quarterbacks with at least 450 passing yards, five touchdown passes, a rushing touchdown and multiple interceptions in a game.
- Tee Higgins: 10 catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns.
- Ja’Marr Chase: 11 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown on 16 targets. Gesicki added four for 76 and a score.
- Dexter Lawrence II: seven tackles, a sack, a fumble recovery and a share of the safety.
- Cam Ward: 26 of 40 for 304 yards and two touchdowns, the first 300-yard game of his career, plus 41 rushing yards and a two-point run.
- Tony Pollard: 21 carries for 117 yards and two touchdowns. He has five touchdowns in his last two games.
- Amani Hooker: three interceptions, tying the Titans franchise record. He is the first player with three in a game since Jordan Whitehead in Week 1 of 2023.
The teams combined for 950 yards. Cincinnati gained 510, including 435 net passing yards, and went 5 for 6 in the red zone, but it also turned the ball over four times. Tennessee ran for 158 yards at 5.6 a carry.
What it means
“We had four turnovers. It’s hard to win that way. Today we did, but you can’t make a living like that,” Burrow said. Higgins and Chase each topped 100 receiving yards in the same game for the fourth time since 2021, and Zac Taylor’s team has now won two straight one-score games after losing many of those in recent years.
Tennessee gave Cincinnati all it could handle without receiver Carnell Tate and three days after trading pass rusher Jeffery Simmons to the Chicago Bears. “The only way to keep up with those guys was to get takeaways four times and score 36 points,” Titans coach Robert Saleh said. Tennessee cornerbacks Marcus Harris (ankle) and Kevin Winston Jr. (shoulder) and linebacker James Williams Sr. (groin) were hurt, as were Cincinnati linebackers Cedric Johnson and Cashius Howell and cornerback DJ Turner.
What comes next
Cincinnati plays the Atlanta Falcons in Madrid next Sunday. Tennessee has its bye and returns to host the Jacksonville Jaguars on November 15.
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