Jake Browning is great in Bengals win; Jaguars lose game and maybe Trevor Lawrence, too

When a team loses its starting quarterback, the season is generally over. Ask the New York Jets how that goes. You might need to ask the Jacksonville Jaguars soon too.

Jake Browning was going to be another forgettable backup who came in and sunk a season. When the Cincinnati Bengals lost Joe Burrow to a season-ending wrist injury, it was hard to stay positive. Browning was undrafted in 2019 and it took him until this season, when he was 27 years old, to take a snap in the regular season. That's not the typical profile of a hidden star.

Browning had a moment he'll never forget on Monday night. He threw for 354 yards and led the Bengals to an improbable 34-31 overtime win in an entertaining game that was marred by a bad-looking injury to Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence left the game after he had his ankle stepped on and pinned underneath him. He was helped off the field by athletic trainers and went straight to get X-rays, which were reported to be negative after the game.

Evan McPherson hit the winning 48-yard field goal with 1:45 left in overtime.

The Bengals got to that point because Browning was fantastic. He led a go-ahead drive late in regulation, though Jaguars backup C.J. Beathard answered with a game-tying drive. In overtime, the Bengals' defense got a stop. Browning led another drive, looking a lot like the always-cool Burrow, and that led to the winning kick. ESPN said that Browning's 86.5% completion percentage was the best ever for a QB in his first or second career start.

The list of serious quarterback injuries this season grew on Monday night. The Bengals got a great performance out of their backup on Monday and improved to 6-6. The Jaguars (8-4) will remain hopeful, but they might need to rally around Beathard for a while. Their promising season might have changed dramatically with one key injury.

Bengals take surprising lead

The reason the matchup looked bad was because the Bengals weren't considered a threat with Browning replacing Burrow at quarterback. Maybe that caused the Jaguars to take them lightly. At the very least, they couldn't have expected the way Browning picked them apart.

In the first half, Browning completed 17 of 19 passes for 178 yards. The Jaguars started fast, scoring first to take a 7-0 lead, but the Bengals came back. When Joe Mixon scored a 2-yard rushing touchdown with about a minute left in the first half, that tied the game 14-14.

For those who tuned in to put up with a blowout to see how their fantasy matchups ended, or those who didn't bother tuning in at all, seeing it tied up at the half with Browning completing 89.5% of his passes had to be a shock. And he didn't slow down after halftime.

Then the Bengals hit a huge play early in the third quarter. Browning threw deep to Ja'Marr Chase against man coverage, Chase caught it and left the cornerback behind for a 76-yard touchdown. That gave Cincinnati a 21-14 lead.

That was the point Monday night's game went from a fun curiosity to wondering if Browning was really going to lead a huge upset over one of the AFC's best teams.

Trevor Lawrence leaves the game

The Jaguars caught a break after they tied it 21-21. The Bengals ran a bad trick play, receiver Tyler Boyd should have tucked it and ran instead of passing it, but he threw it right at defensive end Josh Allen for an interception. That set up a Lawrence quarterback sneak for a touchdown on fourth-and-goal, and the Jaguars led again.

Even with the Bengals giving away a touchdown, they weren't going away. Browning led another drive and scored on a QB sneak to tie it back up 28-28.

The Jaguars still looked OK when they were driving late in the fourth quarter. Then the injury to Lawrence happened. The Jaguars went from worrying about a win that could have extended their lead in the AFC South and gotten them to the No. 1 spot in the AFC with five games remaining to wondering if their franchise quarterback might be done for the season.

The Jaguars missed a field goal after that, then the Bengals took the lead on a field goal with 2:28 left. That was a heck of a spot for Beathard to enter the game. He immediately fumbled on a scramble, though the Jaguars recovered. Then Beathard got into a rhythm and led a drive that ended with a game-tying field goal with 26 seconds left.

Jacksonville got the ball first in overtime. A holding penalty on rookie right tackle Anton Harrison wiped out a great completion from Beathard to Calvin Ridley inside the 5-yard line. It was a questionable call that probably cost Jacksonville a score to give them the lead. The Jaguars punted after that.

It looked like the game might end up in a tie when the Bengals faced a third-and-10, but Browning calmly hit Tee Higgins for 11 yards and a first down. That was the key play that helped get McPherson into field-goal range.

Plenty of teams have seen their season take a bad turn with a quarterback injury this season, from Aaron Rodgers going down on the fourth play of the New York Jets' season to Cleveland Browns' Deshaun Watson needing season-ending surgery on his shoulder, to Burrow. The Bengals had no choice but to rally around Browning to keep their season alive. The Jaguars might be going down the same road.