Zac Taylor Sheds Light on Injury That Has Joe Flacco's Status in Question for Week 9

CINCINNATI — Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco could miss Sunday's game against the Bears due to a shoulder injury he suffered against the Jets.

Head coach Zac Taylor shared an update on Flacco prior to Wednesday's practice.

"He won't practice today. We'll see what we can potentially get out of him tomorrow, Taylor said. "We'll just work through the week. I think right now it's 50-50 on what it will end up on Sunday."

Flacco has given the Bengals' offense new life over the past three games since Cincinnati traded for him in a pick swap with the Browns. He's completed 64.3% of his passes for 784 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions in three games with the Bengals. He hasn't thrown an interception and has a 100.1 quarterback rating.

"He wants to play," Taylor said bluntly. "If anybody in this league, can get by with minimum reps right now, it's him. We've got a plan in place to see what we can do physically during the week. So he won't be out there today, he won't be out there during the open portion of things. He'll come out after that. But we got a plan in place to see where he's at as the week goes."

If he can't play, then Jake Browning would get the start against Chicago.

"I've got confidence in him. I've seen him do it," Taylor said. "We'll put together a great plan for him."

The Bengals are 1-2 with Flacco and 0-3 in games that Browning starts this season. The Bengals play the Bears ahead of their Week 10 bye week. Will that play a factor in their decision?

"We’ll weigh everything in there," Taylor said. "We’ll see how he feels as the week progresses and we’ll make a decision from that. There’s certainly an element of protect him from himself, there’s certainly an element of you have to trust him, how he feels and how he communicates and I trust 18 years and he’s probably played with injuries before, ‘I can do this’ or ‘I can’t do this’ and so, I think we’ll get good information as the next couple of days go by and make our decision on what we need to do."

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