Joe Burrow threw for two touchdowns and Chase Brown ran for two scores as the Cincinnati Bengals finally broke into the win column, topping the Carolina Panthers 34-24 on Sunday afternoon in Charlotte, N.C.
The Bengals (1-3) scored 17 straight points to pull away from a tie score.
Ja'Marr Chase made a 63-yard touchdown reception. Burrow was 22-for-31 passing with 232 yards and an interception, and Brown finished with 80 rushing yards on 15 carries.
Panthers quarterback Andy Dalton, playing against his former team, was 25-for-40 passing for 220 yards and two touchdown throws with an interception. Chuba Hubbard added 104 yards and a touchdown on the ground on 18 attempts for Carolina (1-3).
Diontae Johnson's 21-yard touchdown reception in the final minute of the third quarter gave Carolina hope. Then Xavier Woods picked off Burrow, leading to Eddy Pineiro's 48-yard field goal with 7:42 remaining, cutting Cincinnati's lead to 31-24.
Carolina had a chance to pull even, but the Panthers went three-and-out and punted back to the Bengals. Cincinnati then kept the ball for more than three minutes as the Panthers used all three of their timeouts, with Evan McPherson's 46-yard field goal making it a two-possession lead with 1:14 to play.
Cincinnati needed to go only 16 yards for the game's first points after Vonn Bell's interception and 32-yard return. Brown ran in from 3 yards out.
Hubbard's 3-yard run put the Panthers on the board before Burrow's long pass to play to Chase.
Carolina pulled even again on Xavier Legette's 8-yard pass from Dalton with 1:09 to play in the half.
The Bengals then hustled to go 66 yards in eight plays, capped by Burrow's 1-yard toss to Zack Moss with 1 second left.
The Bengals went 71 yards on the opening possession of the second half, with Brown going 1 yard for the TD. McPherson's 56-yard field goal stretched the edge to 31-14.
The Panthers' first drive of the game ended in frustration, as they drove to the Cincinnati 1-yard line but were unable to get to the end zone on three straight plays.
--Field Level Media
Cincinnati | Carolina | |
Chase Brown | Player | Chuba Hubbard |
15 | Attempts | 18 |
80 | Yards | 104 |
5.3 | Avg Yards | 5.8 |
2 | Touchdowns | 1 |
20 | Long | 38 |
Cincinnati | Carolina | |
Ja'Marr Chase | Player | Diontae Johnson |
3 | Receptions | 7 |
85 | Yards | 83 |
28.3 | Avg Yards | 11.9 |
1 | Touchdowns | 1 |
63 | Long | 39 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Cincinnati | 373 | 141 | 232 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 |
Carolina | 375 | 155 | 220 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 |