3 winners (and 3 losers) for Bengals in unhinged Week 9 loss to Bears

The Cincinnati Bengals put on yet another maddening performance in Week 9's 47-42 home loss to the Chicago Bears. Once again, the Cincinnati defense was awful and let up another 250+ yards on the ground (283 to be precise) for the second straight game.

Wasting a downright legendary performance by Joe Flacco and a unicorn-rare onside kick recovery that led to a go-ahead late touchdown drive, the Bengals have fallen to 3-6 entering their Week 10 bye. They need some time to lick their wounds, and hopefully they can pull off a trade deadline move to upgrade that dreadful defensive unit.

We'll dive into some winners and losers here. Hard to search for moral victories in this one, considering how this demoralizing defeat all but spells the end of the season.

Winner: Joe Flacco

Duh. Despite suboptimal mobility and a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder, 40-year-old Joe Flacco sure can stand in the pocket and deliver the ball downfield without a lick of fear. That said, credit Cincinnati for allowing Flacco to attack vertically and create all kinds of splash plays while the rushing attack struggled in Week 9.

For whatever push the Bengals' offensive line lacked in establishing the run, they did a great job protecting Flacco for much of the afternoon until the veteran QB lost a fumble to begin the fourth quarter.

By the time the last 15 minutes rolled around, the Bears' defense was well-rested and were able to hound Flacco to knock him off his spot and record a few sacks. No matter! Joe Cool The Legend went OFF!

Flacco threw for 470 yards and four scores. LOL. Prior to Flacco's first interception, Andrei Iosivas should've had a TD catch the play before if he hadn't mindlessly stepped out of bounds before reestablishing himself. Iosivas found redemption with the almost-winning TD catch.

Loser: Demetrius Knight Jr.

There's just no world in which Demetrius Knight Jr. should be getting way more snaps than one of the Bengals' most heralded offseason additions, Oren Burks.

Knight is a rookie and plays like it. He extended Chicago's opening touchdown drive with an egregious illegal contact penalty. So unnecessary on 3rd and long. He missed tackle a on the Olamide Zaccheaus touchdown later on as well.

Bears tight end Colston Loveland got open on an in-breaking route in the red zone after Caleb Williams took a delay of game flag from the 1-yard line. Williams rifled it right past Knight, who broke on the throw but couldn't make the play.

A tick late. A step slow. Out of position almost always. Make it stop. Please get Demetrius Knight Jr. off the field.

Winner: Tee Higgins

Chicago did a fine job containing Ja'Marr Chase for the most part and curtailed his incredulous target share. It turned out to be a pick-your-poison scenario, as Tee Higgins capitalized to the tune of two TDs.

Higgins did a fine bit of work in the tight red zone, where he plucked the ball and tumbled across the goal line for a short-range score. The big highlight, however, was when he Moss'd the heck out of Bears cornerback Nashon Wright just before halftime.

Anyone who says the Bengals shouldn't have paid both Chase and Higgins don't know ball. They had plenty of cap space to pay them both, and it's paying massive dividends this year.

Loser: Fulfilling fundamental football objectives

Run the ball, stop the run. That's the throwback formula to gridiron success that still holds true today.

Whether it was a failure to contain Kyle Monangai, or a failure to clean up pressures when Williams held the ball too long as he's wont to do, Chicago ran all over the home team at Paycor Stadium.

Samaje Perine's injury sure didn't help the cause on offense as far as the ability to keep the Bengals' red-hot ground game going. Nor did the fact that all the blunders on defense put the Bengals in catch-up mode for much of the afternoon.

Another fundamental in football is catching it. Bengals tailback Chase Brown not only couldn't find running room all day or create enough after contact, but he had a critical drop early on that likely cost Cincinnati an eventual touchdown. can't have those types of blunders in a shootout.

Winner: Zac Taylor

Say whatever you want about Zac Taylor. The man can coach him some offense. For the second time in three years with Joe Burrow sidelined, Taylor has found a way to dial up an elite passing attack. Even in 2024, the Bengals had to overcome bad pass blocking and a lackluster run game to make it all work.

You can't really blame Taylor for the front office's inefficacy when it comes to acquiring defensive talent. Give Taylor the requisite personnel for a league-average defense, and this team would be darn near unstoppable.

Unfortunately, that's not the reality. And it continues to cost the Bengals. Taylor's play-calling and Flacco's execution — and yes, a freakish onside kick recovery — kept this offense humming. The defense is a disaster. Full stop.

Loser: Shemar Stewart

Just like he did in college at Texas A&M, Shemar Stewart was causing some disruption, but whenever he did get pressure on Caleb Williams, he couldn't finish the play. Trey Hendrickson's absence and the resulting defensive debacle should quash any trade speculation. Should. Probably not. Wishful thinking. Coping over here.

Stewart is a size-speed specimen who should, at the very least, set the edge well versus the run if he's not going to contribute to the pass rush. Alas, one particularly bad play saw Chicago right tackle Darnell Wright knock Stewart into another universe.

Live PFF grades aren't the end-all, be-all, yet they're a good enough indicator of what's unfolding in real time. He had a 30.6 PFF grade toward the end of the final quarter. The damage had been done.

Per those advanced statistics and the good ol' eyeball test, Stewart subtracted a lot more than he added to Cincinnati's defense. Not what you want out of a first-round pick.

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