Against Dolphins, the Bengals finally played a complete game. Here's how
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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. − In the 15th game of the season, and a week after being eliminated from playoff contention, the Cincinnati Bengals achieved the kind of complementary football that had eluded them almost the entire season.
In fact, the Bengals enjoyed so much complementary football in the third quarter that they built a 31-point lead over the Miami Dolphins in a matter of minutes during their Dec. 21 game at Hard Rock Stadium and eventually won 45-21.
Cincinnati is 5-10. The season is still lost in terms of playoff opportunity. If nothing else, the game and third quarter, in particular, were a showing of high-level execution by the defensive and offensive units and a day of positivity in a season with too few of those.
The third quarter started with the Bengals leading 17-14 and Miami with possession. Under center for the Dolphins was rookie Quinn Ewers, who was making his first career start.
By the end of the period, it was a 24-point game. The complementary nature of Cincinnati's play started to snowball at the 13:02 mark in the third when Miami fumbled the ball away. Cincinnati's Myles Murphy fell on it at the Dolphins' 34-yard line and set his offense up for an opportunity to make it a two-score game.
That's exactly what happened. A little over three minutes later, Chase Brown hauled in a pass from quarterback Joe Burrow. Brown juked to avoid a defender and crossed into the end zone.
That pattern repeated itself almost four more times in the third quarter as the Bengals' defense produced these results from the four Miami drives in the third: Fumble recovery by Murphy, an interception by linebacker Barrett Carter (the offense took possession at Miami's 35-yard line), turnover on downs (Bengals took possession on their own 47-yard line), and an interception by cornerback Jalen Davis (Bengals took possession Miami's 48-yard line).
"Yeah, that's how it's supposed to look like," Burrow said. "That's what it's supposed to feel like, so we've got to keep that feeling going these next couple weeks and build some momentum."
The Bengals's offense turned around and scored four touchdowns from all four of those defensive successes in the third quarter, although the fourth touchdown arrived early in the fourth quarter when Burrow hit tight end Mike Gesicki on a 17-yard touchdown.
After Gesicki's score, Burrow was lifted from the game having gone 25-for-32 for 309 yards and four touchdown passes, not to mention a passer rating of 146.5. That passer rating was comparable to some of the best of Burrow's career including single-game outings such as that of a 143.2 rating against the Baltimore Ravens during the 2021 season.
The third quarter was the main thrust of Cincinnati's sudden burst of complementary football, which is essentially football speak for the defense putting the offense in fortuitous positions, and the offense making good on those opportunities.
Brown had a rushing touchdown after Carter's interception. "It's the best feeling in the world," Barrett said. "We've just gotta keep doing this and keep this momentum going. … We've got to finish out the season the right way."
Brown caught his second touchdown of the game following the turnover-on-downs by Miami as it was denied on a fourth-down rushing attempt.
Brown's three third-quarter touchdowns came in the span of 7:18 of game clock. He said it was his first three-touchdown game since childhood, and also the first three-touchdown by any NFL player in a single quarter throughout the 2025 season to date.
"I was standing there and said, 'did we just get the ball back again?'" Brown said. "I'm sprinting to go get my helmet. … Honestly, you just hear the play and it's either going to you or not, so (I) just try to execute the play the best way I can."
Brown finished with 66 rushing yards on 12 carries and 43 receiving yards on four catches. He was also Burrow's second-most targeted player behind Ja'Marr Chase (nine catches, 109 yards).
The Davis interception led to Gesicki's score. On the next Bengals' drive, Joe Flacco ran out to guide the offense and wind the game down. It was Flacco's first action since Nov. 23 against the New England Patriots.
All season, the Bengals have lamented their inability to get their offensive and defensive units feeding off each other. It was as true in most wins as it was in the losses: Some days, the offense looked all-world but the defense looked incompetent. Or, in the case of the Dec. 14 shutout loss to the Ravens at Paycor Stadium, the defense was competitive but the offense inexplicably no-showed and was shutout, 24-0. That performance saw Cincinnati officially eliminated from playoff contention.
The consensus among Bengals players and coaches after beating the Dolphins seemed to be that it was important for Cincinnati to demonstrate it was capable of complementary football rather let the entire season go by with minimal amounts of it.
"It is what it is," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. "This is the situation we're in. This is what we can control, so after the season you'll have a chance to reflect back on the things we could have done differently. I think right now, this is all we can control this week. What was our response in the building to a lot of people after us right now, so the response was (shown) by the guys."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Against Dolphins, the Bengals finally played a complete game. Here's how
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