Joe Burrow, Bengals Overpower Ravens, 41-21, To Close In On AFC North

CINCINNATI — Joe Burrow made sure no one was talking about Josh Johnson and the Ravens Sunday.

The Bengals franchise quarterback threw for a franchise-record 525 yards on 37 of 46 passing with four touchdowns and Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase each had 100-yard games receiving as the Bengals routed the undermanned Ravens, 41-21, before 63,922 at Paul Brown Stadium.

Burrow broke the old record of 490 yards set by Boomer Esiason in an OT win over the Rams in Anaheim in 1990. Ken Anderson had the old regulation record of 447 yards against the Bills in 1975 at Riverfront Stadium.

Higgins caught 12 passes for a career-high 194 yards and two touchdowns while Chase had seven catches for 125 yards on a day when the Bengals drew a step closer to their first AFC North crown since 2015.

“They were unbelievable,” Burrow said of his receivers. “(The Ravens) were playing a lot of zone coverage against us, and (the receivers) did a great job of finding those (open spots) in the zones. Zac (Taylor) called a great game. I’m really excited about how we performed today.”

As a result, the Bengals improve to 9-6 and hold a one-game lead over the Ravens, but also hold the tie-breaker by virtue of the 41-17 win in Baltimore on Oct. 24. One year after being outscored, 65-6, by the Ravens, the Bengals won their season series with Baltimore, 82-38.

With the Steelers losing in Kansas City, the Bengals now hold a one-game lead over Baltimore and a 1.5 game lead over Pittsburgh with two games to play. If the Bengals beat the Chiefs next week at Paul Brown Stadium, they will clinch the AFC North.

“We’re just a good team,” Burrow said. “We’ve got Joe Mixon, we’ve got all those receivers and we’ve got an O-Line that’s playing really well. Teams are going to have to pick their poison with us. We’ve had some games where we haven’t quite executed the way we wanted to but we’ve also had some games like today where we executed better.”

Trey Hendrickson collected a sack and now has had a hand in a sack for 11 straight games, one shy of the NFL record held by Jevon Kearse. Hendrickson has 14 sacks on the season, the most by any Bengal since records began being kept in 1982. But it’s not the club record. That belongs to Coy Bacon, who had 22 in 1976.

The Bengals came out attacking against a banged-up Ravens defense. Burrow completed passes of 10, 18 and 20 yards to Tee Higgins to march down to the Baltimore 13. But the drive stalled and following a sack of Burrow, the Bengals had to settle for a 30-yard Evan McPherson field goal and a 3-0 lead.

Josh Johnson came out for Baltimore, filling in for Lamar Jackson (ankle) and Tyler Huntley (COVID), picked apart the Bengals defense with a no-huddle, hurry-up offense. He finished off the 12-play, 75-yard drive with a 4-yard dump off pass to Rashod Bateman to give Baltimore a 7-3 lead.

But Burrow responded quickly. He threw passes of 11 and 16 yards to Higgins and C.J.Uzomah before Joe Mixon ran it on fourth down with a one-yard run to take the lead back for good.

The Bengals caught a huge break when Josh Johnson’s pass to James Proche was ruled down at the Ravens 34. Proche got up and ran to the 50 but officials in New York reviewed the play and marked the ball back to the 34, a yard shy of a first down. On third down, Johnson fumbled the snap and the Ravens punted.

The Bengals made it 17-7 on a 68-yard Burrow-to-Boyd touchdown connection. Boyd was left uncovered in the slot and raced the entire way untouched. He attempted a Jerome Simpson tribute as he flipped into the end zone but didn’t quite stick the landing, landing on his upper back.

Burrow found Mixon on a 9-yard flat route and Mixon did the rest to make it 24-7. It was Mixon’s 16th touchdown this season, third receiving. His 16th touchdown matched Pete Johnson’s mark of 16 in 1981 for second-most in team history. Carl Pickens holds the team record with 17 in 1995.

Baltimore converted three third downs of at least nine yards on their next drive as the Bengals defense couldn’t get off the field. They allowed the Ravens to march 95 yards and score on Devonta Freeman’s 2-yard run to make it 24-14.

The Bengals got another huge play from Burrow right before the half. Burrow threw deep to Higgins and Higgins fought off two defenders for the catch down to the Baltimore 10. Two plays later, Burrow hit Higgins again for a 1-yard TD and it was 31-14 at the half.

Burrow finished the first half 18-of-21 for 299 yards and three touchdowns and a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3.