Improbably, the Cincinnati Bengals’ offense put up 38 points against the winless New York Jets and still managed to lose.
The Jets won their first game of the season Sunday against the Bengals at Paycor Stadium, repeatedly coming back from multiple-score deficits to win 39-38.
The defeat saw Cincinnati’s attempt to move back to .500 fall short as it dropped to 3-5. The Jets improved to 1-7.
Jets quarterback Justin Fields, who earlier in the week was publicly criticized by team ownership and appeared set to be benched, guided the Jets offense to 503 total yards.
The Jets were down by 14 points in the fourth quarter and had just a 2.5% chance to win the game ????
A stunning comeback by New York to get their first win of the season ???? pic.twitter.com/o4YG8Cuc1s
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) October 26, 2025
Fields went 21 for 32 for a touchdown and 244 yards. Meanwhile, New York rushed for 255 yards, and running back Breece Hall gashed Cincinnati for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
Hall also took a backward shovel pass from Fields, rolled right and tossed the 4-yard tying touchdown pass to tight end Mason Taylor with 1 minutes, 54 seconds to play.
Cincinnati quarterback Joe Flacco went 21 for 31 passing for 217 yards and two touchdowns but saw the Bengals’ final two drives stall out.
By the end of the game, and as the Jets bled out the final seconds remaining on game clock, it was clear they deserved the victory. New York’s defense got stops when it needed to, whereas Cincinnati didn’t.
The Jets not only outgained the Bengals in total yardage but had almost eight minutes more of possession than the hosts. Not including the Jets’ final possession on which they used one play to run out the clock, the Jets scored on 7 of 8 drives in order to chase Cincinnati down.
The Bengals’ second-to-last drive ran aground and required a punt when Will McDonald IV sacked Flacco on third down. Following that sequence, Flacco appeared to be being tended to on the Cincinnati sideline by athletic trainers. Jake Browning, Cincinnati’s original backup quarterback to begin the season, started warming up.
Flacco eventually retreated to the tunnel leading to underneath the grandstands and later emerged to applause and cheers as Cincinnati prepared to mount a comeback. He was under center for the final drive and moved the team to midfield, but two drops by Andrei Iosivas and one by Chase Brown were key in the turnover-on-downs.
