By Paul Dehner Jr., Matt Schneidman and Darnell Mayberry
Green Bay scored 17 fourth-quarter points to stave off a second-half rally by the Cincinnati Bengals and improve to 3-1-1 after a 27-18 win Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Joe Flacco, making his Bengals debut after Cincinnati acquired him via trade last week, threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns. But the Packers held the Bengals scoreless in the first half before Cincinnati’s offense found a rhythm.
With the outcome hanging in the balance, Packers kicker Lucas Havrisik booted a crucial 39-yard field goal for the game’s final margin. On Cincinnati’s final drive, Bengals kicker Evan McPherson missed a desperation 56-yard field-goal attempt with 41 seconds remaining. The Bengals (2-4) still would have needed to recover an onside kick and score a touchdown to win the game.
Packers run game comes alive
Packers running back Josh Jacobs said multiple times this season that it takes the running game 3-4 weeks to start humming since teams need time to get in sync up front and for offensive linemen to really fire off the ball. He was spot on. Green Bay’s running game picked up steam in the second half of its Week 4 tie against the Cowboys, and the train kept rolling against the Bengals on Sunday. Jacobs ran 18 times for 93 yards, two touchdowns and a 5.2 yards-per-carry clip, and the Packers ran 32 times for 153 yards and a season-high 4.8 yards-per-carry mark as a team before the final kneeldowns. — Matt Schneidman, Packers beat writer
Kraft keeps his word
Tucker Kraft recently said that good things happen when he touches the ball. Jordan Love agreed. So it’s no coincidence that, needing a score midway through the fourth quarter while leading the Bengals by seven, Love hit a wide-open Kraft in the flat. If you’ve watched Kraft before, you know what happens next. The heavy-headed No. 1 tight end, who looked more like a freight train barreling toward the end zone, did the rest.
The reception was only Kraft’s second on the afternoon but the Packers’ longest touchdown connection of the season. The 19-yard score put the Packers up 24-10 — it was the eventual game-winning score — and proved that good things do indeed happen when Kraft touches the ball. — Schneidman
How good are the Packers?
Through five games, it still doesn’t seem clear whether the Packers are a legitimate threat to contend for a Super Bowl appearance. The NFC appears wide open — the Buccaneers and Lions might be the front-runners — but the Packers don’t look like the team that handily beat the Lions and Commanders to start the season. They won Sunday against the Bengals after having a double-digit lead, sure, and that counts for something after blowing double-digit leads against the Browns and Cowboys in their last two games. But it was hardly convincing against a team that has been getting whooped in recent weeks. — Schneidman
Bengals losing skid continues
Cincinnati is now on a four-game losing streak in which it has been outscored 140-55. When the Bengals offense finally showed up Sunday, the defense fell apart. When the defense created a turnover and made stops early, the offense was nonexistent with one first down in the first four drives. The Bengals defense hasn’t been awful but still gets run on and fails to produce consistent pressure. The play of DJ Turner and Dax Hill have been pleasant developments, specifically, but there’s not enough progress elsewhere. Suddenly, Thursday night against Pittsburgh becomes a massive early-season game for the Bengals to stay relevant and in the mix in the AFC North picture. — Paul Dehner Jr., senior writer
Flacco breathes life into listless Bengals offense
The Bengals offense took four drives to warm up with new quarterback Joe Flacco but did begin to show why there’s belief he could breathe life into the flailing attack. They managed just one first down in the first four drives, but then started to unlock chemistry with 18 first downs for 18 points on the next four drives that all went into Green Bay territory. Flacco led three scoring drives, got the ball out fast, didn’t turn it over and started finding Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase down the field. There’s positive momentum the team can carry into Thursday’s game against the Steelers, but the fact it took so long in his first game to find that rhythm cost them Sunday. — Dehner
Keep an eye on Hendrickson
The status of Trey Hendrickson will be one to monitor this week. The Bengals’ star edge rusher left the game just before halftime with a back injury and did not return. Hendrickson leads the Bengals in sacks and pressures and is the one of the few players you could count on defensively to make plays each week. They missed him badly on third downs in the second half, specifically a back-breaking third-and-8 deep completion to Matthew Golden that helped salt the win way.
Without him, they fully turn to Myles Murphy and Joseph Ossai, who have struggled to find consistency throughout their careers. First-round pick Shemar Stewart has missed four straight games with an ankle injury and could return next week to help bridge a potential gap. — Dehner
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