Three Takeaways From Cincinnati Bengals 31-17 Win Over San Francisco 49ers

Cincinnati is 4-3 on the season following Sunday's win over San Francisco.

CINCINNATI — The Bengals beat the 49ers 31-17 on Sunday afternoon. It was a dominant performance by Joe Burrow, the offensive line and a defense that continues to make big plays in key moments.

Cincinnati is 4-3 on the season following the victory. All four of their wins have come against the NFC West. They’ve won three-straight games. Here are three takeaways from their wire-to-wire win:

Joe Sheisty

© Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Whether you call him Joe Burrow, Joe Sheisty, Joe Cool or Jackpot Joey, the Bengals quarterback played his best game of the season on Sunday.

He completed 28-of-32 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns. Burrow led the Bengals down the field throughout the game and completed 19-straight passes as one point.

He completed passes to seven different receivers, ran for 43 yards and his best play came on the first drive of the game.

Burrow broke free from Nick Bosa and made multiple 49ers miss in the pocket en route to an 11-yard pass to Tee Higgins on 3rd-and-10. The Bengals scored a touchdown five plays later.

Burrow took a gigantic hit from Fred Warner, but he popped right up and kept playing.

“I actually made a comment on that play. I was like, ‘damn, that’s a tough mother f*****,” Ja’Marr Chase said with a smile. “He’s a quarterback taking hits like that from a linebacker, an All-Pro linebacker at that. He’s one of the best linebackers in the league. Take a hit like that, bounce right up and keep it going. That’s what he does.”

Offensive Line

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The Bengals’ offensive line deserves a ton of credit for their performance on Sunday. They kept Burrow upright and opened up holes for Joe Mixon in the run game.

The 49ers defensive front is talented and they received plenty of criticism in the Bay Area for their performance over the past few weeks. There’s no doubt that they were motivated to bounce back against the Bengals. Instead, Cincinnati’s offensive line kept San Francisco in check for most of the day. 

The 49ers sacked Burrow three times, but the Bengals were never off balance or out of sync. They were calm, comfortable and ran their offense.

Orlando Brown Jr. and Jonah Williams deserve credit for how they handled Nick Bosa. Alex Cappa, Ted Karras and Cordell Volson deserve credit for how they kept the 49ers interior in check for most of the game.

Mixon ran for 87 yards on 16 attempts and one touchdown. There were some massive holes to run through early in the game and the former Pro Bowler took advantage of those chances.

With Burrow moving well in the pocket, this offensive line has a chance to be [at least] a top 15 unit over the final 10 weeks of the season. 

Opportunistic Defense

© Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The Bengals forced three turnovers in the final 16 minutes of the game. The offense had played well, but it was just a one score game and the 49ers were closing in on the game tying score late in the fourth quarter.

Germaine Pratt made the play of the day, tipping a Brock Purdy pass to himself to keep San Francisco from scoring.

Logan Wilson made his presence felt on the next possession, intercepting Purdy’s pass and returning it to the 17-yard line.

Burrow found Chase for a touchdown on the following play and the game was never in doubt after that moment.

Pratt and Wilson are game changers at linebacker. They continue to make big plays with the game on the line.

It’s always a collective effort on defense. Some weeks it’s Dax Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt. Other weeks it’s the linebackers. On Sunday, Trey Hendrickson put the game away with a forced fumble late in the fourth quarter. Mike Hilton made multiple big plays.

When you have so many guys that are prepared to execute in big moments, you’re going to get quality results. The Bengals defense is ascending at the right time.

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