Josh Jacobs rushed for two touchdowns and the Green Bay Packers held off Cincinnati for a 27-18 victory in Joe Flacco’s Bengals debut on Sunday.
Jacobs had a 3-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and opened the fourth by scoring on a 14-yard burst up the middle. Jordan Love went 19 of 26 for 259 yards with an interception and a 19-yard touchdown pass to Tucker Kraft.
Lucas Havrisik sealed the win by making the second of his two field goals, a 39-yarder with 1:52 remaining. Havrisik also kicked a 43-yarder a day after signing with the Packers because usual kicker Brandon McManus had injured his quadriceps.
Cincinnati’s final hope vanished when Evan McPherson was wide right on a 56-yard attempt with 41 seconds left. McPherson also made a 45-yard field goal and was well short on what would have been an NFL-record 67-yarder to end the first half.
The Packers (3-1-1) returned from a bye week with their first home game since Sept. 11. They bounced back from two straight subpar performances — a 13-10 loss at Cleveland and a 40-40 tie with Dallas.
Flacco was Cleveland’s quarterback in that victory over the Packers three weeks ago. He was acquired by Cincinnati (2-4) on Tuesday.
The 40-year-old Flacco was 29 of 45 for 219 yards and two touchdowns, but the Bengals dropped their fourth consecutive game.
Although Cincinnati never led, the Bengals made it a one-score game on Flacco’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase on a fourth-and-5 play with 4:11 to go. A 2-point conversion pass from Flacco to Chase Brown cut Green Bay’s lead to 24-18.
But the Bengals’ defense couldn’t get a stop down the stretch. Neither team punted in the second half.
Love threw a 31-yard pass to Matthew Golden on third-and-8 to get the Packers down to Cincinnati’s 29-yard line with 2:24 remaining. That set up Havrisik’s second field goal.
Flacco became the eighth quarterback since at least 1950 to start against the same opponent twice in a season while playing for two different teams. The only quarterback to win both games in that scenario was Jack Kemp, who guided the AFL’s Buffalo Bills and San Diego Chargers past the New York Titans in 1962.
Cincinnati was outscored 10-0 and outgained 240-65 in the first half, marking the fourth straight game in which the Bengals failed to reach the end zone before halftime.
The Bengals got back into the game by opening the second half with a 17-play, 78-yard touchdown drive that lasted 10 minutes, 14 seconds. On fourth-and-goal, Flacco threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Tanner Hudson, who entered Sunday’s game without any catches all season.
Jacobs’ second touchdown made it 17-7. Cincinnati cut the lead to 17-10 with 10:43 left before Love and Kraft connected for Green Bay’s longest touchdown completion of the season.
Kraft caught the ball a couple of yards beyond the line of scrimmage, shed a tackle and lowered his shoulder to get through cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt and land in the right corner of the end zone.
Injuries
Bengals: TE Mike Gesicki (pectoral) and DE Trey Hendrickson (back) both left the game.
Packers: DE Lukas Van Ness was carted into the locker room with a foot injury in the third quarter. WR Dontayvion Wicks hurt his ankle. S Javon Bullard was evaluated for a concussion.
— Steve Megargee in Green Bay, Wis.
Kansas City Chiefs 30, Detroit Lions 17
Patrick Mahomes threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns, scrambled for another score, and led the Kansas City Chiefs to a 30-17 victory over the ailing Detroit Lions on Sunday night in a game that ended with a fistfight among players.
Mahomes had tried to give Brian Branch a high-five after the final whistle, and the Lions safety walked right by him. Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster took umbrage and had words with Branch, who delivered a punch to set off the brief melee.
It took players and coaches from both teams to break up the skirmish and clear the field.
Marquise Brown had two touchdown receptions and Xavier Worthy had another for the Chiefs (3-3), who played a near-flawless game — no penalties, no turnovers — one week after a mistake-strewn, last-second loss at Jacksonville.
Kansas City also managed to hold in check the NFL’s highest-scoring offense to snap Detroit’s four-game winning streak.
Jared Goff finished with 203 yards passing for the Lions (4-2), though he did connect with Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta for scores. Amon-Ra St. Brown was held to 45 yards receiving and Jahmyr Gibbs needed 17 carries to gain just 65 yards.
Detroit was intent on trying to grind down the Chiefs’ defense and keep their potent offense off the field.
The Lions did a good job on the opening drive, too. They ran 15 plays over a span of 9 minutes, 39 seconds, chewing up so much clock that Mahomes and company looked downright bored on the sideline. And it looked as if it would pay off when David Montgomery took a direct snap and threw to Goff, who powered into the end zone from 1 yard out for a touchdown.
But the officials came together to discuss the play, and even though nobody had thrown a flag, they eventually said Goff was not set — an illegal motion penalty. After a delay of game, the Lions had to settle for Jake Bates’ chip-shot field goal.
Kansas City wasted no time answering, marching 70 yards in eight plays. Mahomes hit three different targets on the drive, and Worthy hauled in a 6-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal to give the Chiefs the lead.
The back-and-forth continued throughout the first half: The Lions went the other way with Williams grabbing a 22-yard pass to give them the lead back, and the Chiefs answered with Mahomes scoring on a keeper for a 13-10 edge at halftime.
But a banged-up Lions defense, missing cornerbacks D.J. Reed, Terrion Arnold and Avonte Maddox, couldn’t slow down the Chiefs, who are finding their offensive mojo again just in time to get suspended wide receiver Rashee Rice back next week.
They roared downfield on the opening drive of the second half, this time with Brown hauling in the touchdown catch to extend the lead. And when the Lions finally answered behind a flurry of passes to St. Brown and a nifty toss to LaPorta in the end zone, Kansas City rolled right back downfield as Brown pulled in another touchdown reception for a 27-17 lead.
Detroit proceeded to go three-and-out, and the Chiefs put the game away from there.
The Chiefs played without left tackle Josh Simmons, their first-round pick, who had a personal issue that kept him from making it back to Kansas City for the game. Jaylon Moore played well in his place against Aidan Hutchinson and the Detroit pass rush.
Mahomes has 302 career touchdown passes, including the postseason, becoming the quickest player in NFL history to reach the 300 mark. He accomplished the feat in 139 games, eight faster than Aaron Rodgers, to the delight of a crowd that included Taylor Swift — the fiancée of tight end Travis Kelce — and WNBA star Caitlin Clark.
— Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Mo.