Cincinnati Bengals: 3 Reasons for win vs. Lions in Week 16
By Kenn Korb
Looking back at the Cincinnati Bengals’ Week 16 victory over the Detroit Lions to help us better understand how they came away with an eventual 26-17 win.
Breathe a sigh of slight relief: The Cincinnati Bengals managed to get a win against an NFC North team!
After losing in depressing fashion in all three of their prior matchups against their matching NFC division (one an overtime collapse against the Aaron Rodgers-led Green Bay Packers, the others blowouts against the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings), it wasn’t a stretch to think they’d fall short here as well to Detroit.
Apparently the team still had some fight left in them however, and despite being matched with a team still alive in the playoff chase these Bengals were able to come away with the upset victory.
How did they manage it?
3. A Timely Turnover
As halftime approached in this one, relatively little had happened on the scoreboard. Cincinnati sat at just three points after opening the game with a handful of punts and an interception, but with Detroit only having seven points themselves this contest was still far from decided (a major improvement from the past couple weeks).
After yet another Cincinnati punt, the Lions had under two minutes to attempt a scoring drive; a field goal would put them up seven, and a touchdown could put them up by 11 — a lead this current iteration of the Bengals probably wouldn’t have managed to overcome. If the Bengals were going to stay in this game, now was when they needed a play.
Surprisingly, they did exactly that. A couple nine-yard completions by Matthew Stafford made it seem like another patented end-of-half drive in the making, but it would go no further. On the next play, Vontaze Burfict would come free on a blitz and get his hands on Stafford. In a rush, the quarterback panicked spectacularly and threw the ball weakly into the chest of a waiting Vincent Rey.
This turnover acted as a possible 10-point swing on the scoreboard; what only moments before felt like a probable Detroit touchdown (or at least field goal) drive now ended up becoming a Cincinnati field goal to end the half.
Though they still were behind 7-6, this did mean that the Bengals were able to keep things much closer as they entered the second half. Had they gone down 10-3 or 14-3, these Bengals almost certainly weren’t going to bring the fight necessary to make a comeback (they couldn’t do so when the games mattered to them, so why should we thing that would change when they no longer do?).
Since things stayed close however, the door was left wide open for what eventually became an upset victory.