It only took Joe Flacco two games to prove he could save Bengals' season

Take a bow, Joe Flacco! The Cincinnati Bengals' sage signal-caller used to be a rival for the Baltimore Ravens. How quickly things can change in the NFL. A mere week and change ago or so, Flacco was a Cleveland Brown. Wild.

Now, on his third different AFC North team, Flacco is suddenly orchestrating a humming Bengals offense that has hope after Thursday's thrilling 33-31 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

To join a new team on the fly, learn the playbook so fast, and look like he'd been there since training camp is straight-up mind-blowing. Especially when you consider Flacco quarterbacked a Browns team that Joe Burrow and the Bengals beat in Week 1.

Joe Flacco proved he could hold the fort down for Joe Burrow's eventual return

Joe Burrow was on hand on the sidelines for Thursday night's epic showing at Paycor Stadium. You'd have never known the Bengals were losers of four straight games before facing the division-leading Steelers.

What you'd also never know is how short of a time Flacco had been Cincinnati's starting QB. The uncanny timing and anticipation he had slinging the ball to Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins was quite a sight to behold.

It appeared as though the Steelers were trying to mitigate the big play threat of Flacco's huge arm. The Bengals had a running game that didn't need to be feared in the first six weeks. To combat that, Flacco peppered Higgins and Chase in particular with quick targets to keep Pittsburgh's defense on its heels.

Look how decisive Flacco was on this in-breaking route to Higgins for a TD.

Such a small window to fit that ball into. Flacco lets that thing go before Higgins even gets out of his break. Perfect placement to allow for Higgins to accelerate upfield and finish strong in the end zone.

There's a lot to be said, too, about the touch Flacco can put on the ball to simply give his studs on the perimeter a chance, such as on this first scoring pass to Chase.

With basically zero time before a road trip to Lambeau Field this past Sunday to take on the Packers, Flacco kept Cincinnati in striking distance in a 27-18 loss. All those points came in the second half. That momentum carried over to Thursday evening.

Once the Bengals took a 20-10 lead in the third quarter, I was convinced, even if they blew the game later, Flacco could shoulder the burden of starting for Burrow until his anticipated return in mid-December. Then all Joe Cool did was this to set up Evan McPherson's game-winning field goal:

If this is what Flacco can do on such short notice, imagine what he might look like with extra time to prepare for the 0-6 New York Jets in Week 8, the probably-overrated Bears in Week 9, and after he comes out of Cincinnati's Week 10 bye. Look out, rest of NFL! Joe Cool is cookin'! And runnin'!

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