CINCINNATI — The final game of the regular season turned into a grind for Joe Burrow and the Bengals.
Burrow threw a touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase, who surpassed 1,000 yards receiving in his 12th game of the season, to lead the Bengals to a 27-16 win over the Baltimore Ravens before 65,849 at Paycor Stadium. It was Cincinnati’s record-tying eighth straight win, matching the 8-0 start to the 2015 season, and marked the fourth 12-4 finish in club history. The team also finished 12-4 in 1981, 1988 and 2015.
With Buffalo beating New England, 35-23, the Bills clinch the No. 2 seed and will play the Miami Dolphins next weekend in Buffalo. The Bengals will be the No. 3 seed and host the Ravens next weekend at Paycor in the Wild Card round.
Burrow finished 25-of-42 for 215 yards and a touchdown.
The toughest news of the day was the loss of Alex Cappa to a left ankle injury when his ankle was rolled up on during a Joe Burrow deep pass for Tee Higgins in the third quarter.
Max Scharping came into the game and replaced Cappa.
The Bengals offense was spotty.
One of the best performers of the day was punter Drue Chrisman, who had a pair of key 50-yard punts. One led to a Trey Hendrickson strip sack that was recovered by Joseph Ossai for a touchdown. The other pinned the Ravens at their 11 when they were attempting to rally in the fourth quarter.
Early, this game had all the earmarks of a Bengals blowout.
In addition to sitting quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley and placing them inactive, the Ravens deactivated star running back J.K. Dobbins.
The Bengals forced the Ravens to punt after allowing one first down on Baltimore opening drive to start the game.
Cincinnati then converted their first three third down opportunities, driving down to the Baltimore 16. But the drive stalled and a third down pass for Trenton Irwin fell incomplete. The Bengals settled for a 34-yard Evan McPherson field goal. Burrow evaded several Ravens rushers on the drive, evading several hits.
The Bengals secondary then created two short fields for the Bengals offense on the next two possessions.
Jessie Bates could have fair caught an overthrow from third-string quarterback Anthony Brown and set the Bengals up at the Baltimore 48.
We'll take that.#BALvsCIN | ? CBS pic.twitter.com/87PxFzZHGx
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 8, 2023
Five plays later, Joe Mixon bulled his way into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown. After the touchdown, Mixon took a coin out of his glove and flipped it in the air to mock the coin flip home field scenario proposed by the NFL competition committee if the Bengals lose and the Bengals and Ravens play in the playoffs.
Mixon really had a coin in his glove ?#BudLightCelly | @budlight pic.twitter.com/eg8evfvtsT
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 8, 2023
On Baltimore’s next drive, Brown threw a pass that went off the hands of Demarcus Robinson and into the arms of Mike Hilton. The Bengals took over at the Ravens 32. After an overthrow of Tee Higgins for an easy touchdown, Burrow came back on the next play on third down and threw a perfect pass that Chase high-pointed in the end zone for a 26-yard touchdown.
The touchdown reception put him over 1,000 yards on the season in 12 games at 1,001 yards and gave the Bengals a 17-0 lead. The touchdown also gave Joe Burrow 36 touchdown passes, breaking his single-season club record from 2021.
Back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons for @Real10jayy__ ?#BALvsCIN | ? CBS pic.twitter.com/iOH1w7c5lA
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 8, 2023
Chase lost two yards on his next reception to go under 1,000 briefly before a 10-yard gain on Cincinnati’s final drive of the first half.
But following a Ravens touchdown drive that was capped by a 4-yard Kenyan Drake run off left tackle, the Bengals receiver had a 10-yard catch that put him back over. The Bengals couldn’t move beyond midfield and Drue Chrisman came up with his biggest punt in a Bengals uniform.
His 56-yarder pinned the Ravens at their five. Following a 1-yard run, Anthony Brown threw an out that was close to a Bengals pick-6. On third down, Trey Hendrickson broke through and strip-sacked Brown. Joseph Ossai recovered in the end zone and the Bengals led, 24-7 at the half.
CHAOS‼️#BALvsCIN | ? CBS pic.twitter.com/jWhLmLFJhU
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 8, 2023
Tyler Boyd suffered a hit to the head and was evaluated for a concussion in the medical tent and went to the locker room. Boyd was cleared to return and did so on Cincinnati’s final drive of the first half.
