CINCINNATI — Sam Hubbard sat in front of his locker, stained and stretched black uniform still on, and stared straight ahead while slowly ripping tape off his hands.
The look on his face matched the feeling of the 66,376 leaving Paycor Stadium.
What the heck just happened?
“That was probably the most adversity we have faced all season in a single game,” Hubbard said, starting the conversation.
A few minutes later, he tried to further explain and process how this improbable season added an even more improbable victory.
“Just unbelievable effort, it comes down to being resilient and … ”
Hubbard stopped himself mid-thought. He paused. Then perfectly summed it up.
“Wow,” he said.
Wow, indeed. The Bengals’ 27-24 overtime victory against the Vikings served as a microcosm of Cincinnati’s season in many ways. One that started with the Bengals among Super Bowl favorites has seen them endure an avalanche of obstacles and imperfections, then left for dead without Joe Burrow, all the odds stacked against them.
They were down 14 points entering the fourth quarter Saturday against a defense that had not allowed a touchdown in 13 quarters. A win required two defensive stops for the game where the Vikings needed an inch. A third-and-21 conversion to Ja’Marr Chase, maybe the most acrobatic touchdown reception of the season by Tee Higgins and a desperate heave on the run to Tyler Boyd for 44 yards in which both Higgins and Tyler Boyd didn’t know who was for sure the intended receiver.
“It took everybody,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “Players, coaches, crowd. That was as hard-fought a game as I’ve ever had, but our guys found a way … I can list names of guys all day that stepped up and guys who maybe faced some adversity at some point in the game.”
The list goes on.
Like all Bengals’ stories these days, that starts with Browning.
“I feel like I need a beer,” Browning said as he sat down for his postgame news conference. He might not have to buy many in Cincinnati anytime soon.
As the football world waits for the other shoe to drop on the undrafted, anonymous backup, he continues to author more chapters. This time, his sweetest yet right when he looked to be out of tricks. The Vikings’ pressure concepts were giving him fits. He’d been planted in the ground by Danielle Hunter, held to one field goal and threw an ugly interception missing a wide-open Higgins over the middle.
Here was the same franchise that cut him three times to start his career trying to end him yet again.
He kept firing and posted 21 fourth-quarter points against a team that allowed more than 21 points in an entire game only once in the last two months. He then authored a second game-winning overtime drive in three starts thanks to an off-script play to Boyd, showcasing arm strength the entire league didn’t think he possessed. Specifically, Minnesota didn’t think he possessed.
Browning makes a play. Boyd fights for yards after the catch!
📺: #MINvsCIN on @NFLNetwork
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/vtmfEKvOLy pic.twitter.com/FP5hTLPop2— NFL (@NFL) December 16, 2023
He claimed during the week, this week didn’t mean much. Following 324 yards and two touchdowns, he could admit he was lying.
“I remember getting cut there (Minnesota) the last time, and just being told, ‘Hey, we might have a spot for you on the practice squad. Go to the hotel and wait.’ So, I sat in the hotel for a couple of hours not knowing if I had a job or not, and just basically got a call from my agent. They didn’t tell me. I had been there for two years. I’ve been cut my fair share of times, and that was probably the s—iest one,” Browning said. “There was a little bit more to it this week. I know I denied it, and there are some great people over there. It’s completely different (now) — a completely different coaching staff and everything — and I want to emphasize that there are some incredible people over there, but that one felt good. Right after we made the field goal to win the game, I screamed at a camera and said, ‘They never should have cut me!’”
Minutes later, Browning walked by a crowd of reporters interviewing Higgins and started clapping loudly.
“Yeaaah, Tee!” he shouted.
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He knew what this day meant to Higgins. The star receiver didn’t get the contract extension he wanted before the season. He suffered through the limited offense with Burrow’s injury. He fractured his rib. He missed extended time with a hamstring. His drop rate is nearly double his previous worst mark. He dropped another ball on the first throw of the game and couldn’t hold onto a deep pass just before halftime. He hadn’t scored a touchdown since Week 2. Then Ja’Marr Chase goes out with a shoulder injury.
He persevered to run a gorgeous route for his first score, a 13-yarder near the sideline then posted one of the highlights of his career with Gumby acrobatics for the game-tying touchdown Browning heaved up to him with pressure in his face.
“Coach Troy (Walters) came up to me and said, ‘It’s time to be the alpha,’” Higgins said. “The team needed it most right there. I was able to do that.”
THIS CATCH 🤯#ProBowlVote x Tee Higgins pic.twitter.com/wrZeJlZe1U
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) December 16, 2023
Then there were Drew Sample and Ted Karras. Sample was questionable after a stomach illness attacked his body on Friday, but fought through it because his ability to diagnose and hold up in pass protection would be essential against the attacking Vikings.
Karras was also trusted to spot the tricky protections and keep Browning clean and confident. Yet, on the final play before halftime, he hyper-extended his elbow and was in clear pain heading to the locker room with trainers.
“I was a little scared for a moment, felt it pop, it was really painful,” he said, but came back to start the second half. “Just a little bursa. Taped it up.”
The offense continues to be the feel-good story and the defense the concerning footnote. They again were run on, with Minnesota racking up 130 yards on the ground. They again gave up untimely explosive plays, adding to their league-worst rate. They are obviously a flawed group.
It didn’t help that on the first drive of the game, DJ Reader went down. He sustained a serious quad injury and left on a cart. The same type of injury that wiped out the majority of his 2020 season and set off a brutal rehab that challenged him physically and mentally. He’s four games away from becoming a free agent at age 29. He’s the heart and soul of the defense and one of the elite defensive tackles in football.
“Can’t even describe what’s going through my mind when DJ goes down,” Hubbard said. “It’s just — can’t even describe.”
DJ Reader shakes hands with tight end Irv Smith Jr. while being carted off the field in the first quarter. (Katie Stratman / USA Today)
Yet, thanks to two turnovers in the red zone, they kept the game within shouting distance despite Nick Mullens running up 306 passing yards.
And when it looked like the defensive issues would finally prove the fatal flaw on their 41-yard line, the Vikings needing an inch on third down to move into almost certain field-goal range, a defensive line without Reader fought back. The tush push, a play the NFL competition committee is weighing taking out of the game because it’s too automatic was stuffed not once, but twice.
“It’s all because of our culture,” Germaine Pratt said. “Zac started a culture here that’s unbreakable. Everybody is looking at each other in our eyes, and they are ready to go. Next man stands up, next man steps up. There’s no drop-off.”
Even when a potential game-changing pick-six by Pratt was wiped off the board by Trey Hendrickson being offsides, there was Hendrickson with a critical sack late in the fourth quarter to help send the game to OT.
From there, Boyd, another player being pushed out the door and discussed as an aging receiver in a contract year, made the final play to finish it off.
“We are great under pressure,” Boyd said. “Nobody folds. When the pressure rise, that’s when guys are on high alert. That’s the mentality we got to have. That’s contagious in this locker room.”
It’s also proving quite powerful. Burrow or no Burrow, the Bengals have a way about them. One that goes beyond the franchise quarterback. One on full — if flawed — display on Saturday afternoon.
“We just continued to keep fighting, keep fighting, keep fighting,” Hubbard said. “Nobody ever batted an eye, switched up on each other. You just keep going and great things will happen.”
The odds are still stacked against them with the bloated AFC middle and disadvantageous tiebreakers in their way.
“Christmas in Pittsburgh,” Karras said. “Let’s go.”
The Bengals keep fighting. The Improbable Express rolls on.
“That thing was a roller coaster,” Taylor said. “That’s kind of like the season a little bit. You just have to be able to stay composed and not panic. Just like when you’re down in the season, you’re down in this game and our guys just — there’s no fear.”
(Top photo: Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)
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