Tampa, Fla. — Joe Burrow threw for four second-half touchdowns and the rising Cincinnati Bengals rebounded from a 17-point deficit to beat Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 34-23 for their sixth straight win on Sunday.
The Bengals (10-4) retained sole possession of first place in the AFC North, with Tre Flowers intercepting Brady to set up a touchdown and Logan Wilson firing the seven-time Super Bowl champion to force a fumble that went to led to another TD.
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First-seeker Bucs (6-8) missed an opportunity to take a two-game lead over Carolina, Atlanta and New Orleans, who remain 5-9 in contention for a division title in the woeful NFC South, though confident of finishing to come up with the loss of records.
Burrow started Cincinnati’s comeback from a 17-0 deficit with a field goal drive in the final 1:39 of the first half. He threw scoring passes of 5 yards to Tee Higgins, 3 yards to Tyler Boyd, 8 yards to Ja’Marr Chase, and 12 yards to Mitchell Wilcox.
Burrow finished 27 of 39 for 200 yards and an interception. After the Bengals passed 261 yards on 83 yards in the first half while running just 20 plays on Tampa Bay’s 40, the Bengals scored after the half with the help of Buc’s errors on drives of 13, 31, 13 and 39 yards.
Brady lost for the first time in his 23-year career after leading by at least 17 points. He was 89-0 in such games by Sunday.
The 45-year-old quarterback was 30 of 44 for 312 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. He was sacked once and lost a fumble that Joseph Ossai recovered to put Cincinnati in position to take a 20-17 lead with Boyd’s TD catch and Burrow’s 2-point conversion shot against Higgins at 2:40 in the third quarter walk.
Burrow ended the Bengals’ eighth win in nine games with his pass to Wilcox, capping a 62-yard drive that lasted nearly seven minutes in the last quarter.
Tampa Bay didn’t do much right in a 35-7 loss to San Francisco to score on three of four first-half possessions. Ryan Succop kicked a 21-yard field goal on a drive that stalled at the Bengals 3, and Brady threw 1-yard TD passes to Russell Gage and 5 yards to Chris Godwin.
The second half was a different story, as the entire third quarter was played inside Tampa Bay’s 40-yard line, and Burrow converted an interception, two fumbles, and a bad snap on a punt into three touchdowns and a field goal to complete the game Take control of the game.
INJURIES
Bengal: DE Trey Hendrickson (wrist) was inactive. Also played without CBs Nike Hilton (knee) and Jalen Davis (thumb) and TE Hayden Hurst (calf). … DE Sam Hubbard (Wade) left the team in the second quarter and did not return.
Buccaneers: All-Pro RT Tristan Wirfs missed his third straight game with a high ankle sprain after being restricted in practice and ruled questionable. … WR Julio Jones (knee), DT Vita Vea (calf), CB Jamel Dean (toe) and LB Carl Nassib (chest) were also inactive due to injury. …S Antoine Winfield Jr. (ankle) left briefly in the first quarter, ending the game.
NEXT
Bengals: in New England on Christmas Eve.
Buccaneers: in Arizona on Christmas night.
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