Joe Flacco gave Bengals reason to hope after Browns trade

Joe Flacco didn’t get the win in his Bengals debut, but the veteran quarterback and the Cincinnati offense showed some fight in the second half of a 27-18 loss to the Packers. 

Flacco had only been acquired by the Bengals earlier in the week in a surprise trade with the Browns — a division rival — that brought the 40-year-old quarterback to Cincinnati and put him in line to help stun the Packers for a second time this season. 

Flacco helped the Browns upset the Packers 13-10 two weeks earlier, and had he won on Sunday, it would have made him only the second quarterback to beat the same team twice in a season with two different teams. 

The Bengals QB fell short of history, but in his first game with the franchise, he managed to put up 219 yards on 29 completions along with two touchdown passes in his debut. 

“We came out and played a good second half,” Flacco said of his first start. “Usually, against a good football team, play one good half isn’t going to be good enough, but we gave ourselves a chance down the end and I think we did some good things. But, just not enough early on.”

Things didn’t start off exactly as planned for the Bengals, as Flacco and the offense had just 65 yards total heading into halftime. 

But the offense started to click in the second half as they drove down the field 78 yards and Flacco recorded his first touchdown pass as a Bengal with a short two-yard throw to Tanner Hudson.

The second touchdown pass came in the fourth quarter with just over four minutes left in the game. 

Flacco connected with Ja’Marr Chase on an impressive catch for the Cincinnati receiver, which resulted in a 19-yard touchdown pass. 

The touchdown and the successful 2-point conversion attempt made it a 24-18 game.

The loss was the Bengals’ fourth straight, but Flacco gave some reasons to be optimistic that the team can turn things around. 

“Listen, this is a long season and I know it’s easy to be down on yourself in hard times, but playing with confidence shows. We have to find a way to get some of that back, but I think we do have the ability to do that.” 

The Bengals turned to Flacco in the hopes they can stabilize their QB position while Joe Burrow is out with a Grade 3 turf toe injury.