Cincinnati Bengals Double Down With Historic Feat Not Seen in 8 Years

After six years of searching, Bengals coach Zac Taylor finds halftime Holy Grail.

Sep 29, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Cincinnati Bengals running back Zack Moss (31) runs for yardage down the sideline against the Carolina Panthers during the third quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow admitted to making a mistake that had head coach Zac Taylor briefly ceasing to breathe.

But Burrow also shrugged it off.

And why not?

The mistake in question still resulted in a touchdown – and a historically significant one of that – and a 34-24 road triumph of the Carolina Panthers for the Bengals’ first win of the season.

“Maybe not my best decision, but it worked out for us,” Burrow said of his decision to throw a screen to running back Zack Moss with just six seconds remaining before halftime and the Bengals out of timeouts.

Moss slipped on the play and went to the ground. Had he been stopped short of the end zone, time would have run out and the Bengals would have come away with no points and headed into the locker room tied 14-14.

“Hold your breath,” Taylor said of the play. “It’s great when it works.”

Fortunately for the Bengals, Moss was able to regain his footing and get into the end zone for a go-ahead touchdown with one second remaining in the half.

“I trusted Zack to go make that play. I thought he had enough space,” Burrow said.

Taylor said the screen to Moss wasn’t the primary option on the play call, but that’s where Burrow went with it.

“He can see it better than we can from the sidelines where that was,” Taylor added. “(Burrow) felt like obviously Zack had an opportunity to get in there. Happy when it works.”

With just six seconds left before halftime, the pass – and Burrow’s decision – had to be quick, which is why he took the risk.

“You're scheming up plays for normal situations,” Taylor added. “You're not scheming up with six seconds left in the half, which is about the grayest area you can get to. Six seconds left and (if) the ball gets tipped up in the air, the clock runs out.”

What made the touchdown especially meaningful is that it enabled the Bengals do something they always strive for but have rarely accomplished.

The reason teams defer after winning the opening coin toss is to have a chance to double dip by scoring at the end of the first half and then again with the opening possession of the second half.

The Bengals followed Moss’ touchdown reception one second before halftime with an eight-play, 71-yard touchdown drive behind some great offensive line play to start the second quarter. Chase Brown’s 1-yard run gave Cincinnati a 28-14 lead.

It marks the first time in the Taylor era the Bengals have scored a touchdown on the final non-kneel down drive of the first half and again on the opening possession of the second half.

There have been touchdown-field goal combinations, but even those have been rare.

And there have been instances where the Bengals scored touchdowns on their final drive of the first half and first drive of the second half, but the opponent had a possession (or two) between them.

There are three such instances.

Last year in the Monday night game at Jacksonville, the Bengals scored a touchdown on a Joe Mixon 2-yard run with 1:04 to go. The Jaguars had 64 seconds to work with before halftime, and they got the ball first in the third quarter and went three and out.

Then on the Bengals’ third play of the third quarter, Jake Browning hit Ja’Marr Chase for a 76-yard touchdown and a 21-14 lead.

In the 2022 win at New Orleans, Burrow had a 19-yard run on the team’s final drive of the first half, but the Saints answered with a field goal. New Orleans added another field goal to open the second half, and the Bengals got a 15-yard touchdown pass from Burrow to Chase on their first possession of the third quarter.

And in the 2021 season opener, Chase caught a 50-yard touchdown with 35 seconds left in the first half, and the Bengals opened the second half with an 11-play touchdown drive that Mixon capped with a 2-yard run.

But the Vikings had a legitimate possession before halftime despite only having 35 seconds. They had all three timeouts and ran six plays.

The Bengals won that game at home 27-24 in overtime.

The last time we saw the Bengals double dip the way they did today was a 2016 home game against the Eagles.

Andy Dalton led a 12-play, 93-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Eifert with two seconds left before halftime.

Then the Bengals took the second-half kickoff and went 77 yards in eight plays, with Dalton hitting Brandon LaFell for an 8-yard touchdown and 26-0 lead in a game they would go on to win 32-14.

Sunday's double dip was set up by the fact that the Bengals didn’t just win their first game of the season, they won their first coin flip, enabling them to defer and give themselves a chance to do something they hadn’t done in eight years.

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