Joe Flacco Notes Bengals 'Not Matching' Their Phases As Season Slips Away

Flacco came crashing back to earth on Sunday.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco (16) drops back to throw in the second quarter of the NFL Week 11 game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. The Steelers led 10-6 at halftime. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bengals' offense killed them on Sunday after a month-plus of great football from Joe Flacco and that unit. 

Cincinnati's quarterback was abysmal on Sunday, passing for 199 yards and one score while adding a pick-six en route to a 23-40 completion mark. The Bengals' offense gave up 14 points on its own and wasted the team's first good defensive performance since Week 1.

"I thought they did a lot of good things today, you know, just a shame the way we're kind of not matching each other right now and playing both sides as well as we can at the same time," Flacco said about the defense.

The two sides are playing volleyball back and forth to see who can be more inept. The Steelers clearly had a better game plan ready for Ja'Marr Chase today after giving up 16 catches to the superstar a few weeks ago.

He had just three catches for 30 yards on 10 targets. Flacco's inaccuracy and normal-level of play this decade caught up to him coming out of the bye week.

"Well, I think they made sure that they probably did it more, just they probably had a couple guys on him more often than they did in the first game," Flacco said about the issues feeding Chase. "That's why they're a good football team. And we knew they were going to make adjustments and come in here and play better than they did the first time we played them. And we got to match that."

Cincinnati welcomes the betting favorite to land the AFC's No. 1 seed next week to Paycor Stadium, the New England Patriots. They need to win six of the final seven games to have any shot at a playoff berth.

For more on the Bengals, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and watch the video below as part of our in-depth coverage of the team. Prefer to listen? Check out Cincinnati Bengals Talk on Apple, Spotify, and Amazon Podcasts.

Make sure you bookmark BengalsTalk.com for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, insight, film breakdowns and so much more!

Also, check out the podcast, Locked On Bengals, wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple: bit.ly/BengalsApple

Spotify: bit.ly/BengalsSpotify

YouTube: bit.ly/LOBengalsYouTube

-----

Follow us on X: @BengalsTalkSI

Like Our Facebook Page

Follow on TikTok