What we learned from Cincinnati Bengals' big win over Jacksonville Jaguars

The Cincinnati Bengals (6-6) kept their postseason hopes alive after defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars 34-31 on Monday night. The Bengals stayed on the bubble of the NFL playoff picture at 11th place in the AFC.

It was a night to remember at EverBank Stadium on “Monday Night Football” as backup quarterback Jake Browning snapped the Bengals’ three-game losing skid and breathed new life into Cincinnati’s season. Several players stepped up in the win, but this game was all about Browning who completed 32 of 37 passes for 354 yards and one touchdown for a quarterback rating of 115.5.

And here’s why that's the case.

One of the biggest talking points surrounding the Bengals for months was the backup quarterback position. Did the team do enough to give themselves a chance to compete if Joe Burrow were to get hurt? It didn’t seem that way heading into the season after Browning took almost every rep as the starter due to Burrow’s calf injury.

Then, Browning’s first outing as a starter in the NFL saw the Bengals suffer a disappointing loss to the Steelers with an uninspiring offensive performance.

But it all changed on Monday night and although Browning’s performance rightfully will steal the show, there were plenty of other reasons the Bengals won this game.

Zac Taylor put faith into Bengals’ run game and it paid off

After the Bengals lost 16-10 to Pittsburgh in Week 12, head coach Zac Taylor’s game plan and play-calling was called into question. This was mostly because of his team’s lack of commitment to running the ball in Browning’s first NFL start.

Cincinnati attempted only eight run plays in the loss and rookie running back Chase Brown didn’t have a carry. Taylor said the Bengals weren’t effective enough when they did run the ball so he felt their passing game would be the key to winning the game.

Taylor had a completely different approach against the Jaguars. The Bengals ran the ball 31 times for 156 yards with Joe Mixon and Brown seeing carries out of the backfield. Mixon rushed for 68 yards on 19 carries and Brown followed behind with nine carries for 61 yards, including his 31-yard run that was the Bengals’ longest run from the line of scrimmage all season. It was the balanced approach you hoped to see from the Bengals all season long.

“I thought our linemen did a great job,” Taylor said. “I thought the backs were really explosive when they hit the hole. They did a great fighting for yardage, hitting it when they were supposed to. Jake (Browning) did a really good job managing it. There was a lot of check plays that he had to manage there and distribute the ball in the perimeter. So, I just thought it was a really good plan. Really well executed by the guys on offense, starting with the linemen, running backs, and then Jake did a nice job, too. It helped us get a really good rhythm on offense and I think keep them off balance.”

Based off the results from Monday night, expect to see more from Brown in the Bengals’ offense. Cincinnati’s coaching staff needed to see if they could trust Brown and he passed the test. Now, the biggest question that remains is can this team consistently be successful running the ball.

That’s not something they’ve proven to do this season. This doesn’t all fall on the running backs, by the way. This was by far one of the top-two performances from the Bengals’ offensive line in executing the run blocking scheme this season. They’ve been a big culprit of the run game woes this season.

Browning admitted following the game that his 76-yard touchdown pass to Chase in the third quarter, when the Jaguars opted not to put a safety over the top, likely happened because of Cincinnati’s success running the ball.

“I think part of the reason we had that one-on-one coverage is because we ran the ball so well,” Browning said.

They need more of that moving forward in order to win more games down the stretch.

Ja’Marr Chase again proves why he is the Bengals' second-most important player

Ja’Marr Chase has over 1,000 receiving yards in a season for the third season in a row. That's not an easy feat to accomplish by any means. Chase just has a way of making it look easy.

First year in the league (2021): 1, 455 yards

Second year in the league (2022): 1,046 yards

Third year in the league with five games to go (2023): 1,063 yards

Cincinnati’s star wide receiver was stellar in the win over the Jaguars. Chase finished the game with 11 catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. If Browning was Batman, Chase was his Robin.

“Awesome” is how Taylor described Chase’s performance.

Taylor added his third and fourth down catches played a big role in the game.

“He is so hard to bring down, so any time you get the ball in this hands it's a challenge,” he said. “Stressful for the defense. I know that. So, I thought he played really well for us.”

That’s one way to put it.

Chase said he wanted to be “evil” on the field in Jacksonville. That he was to the Jaguars’ defensive coaching staff and players who will be spending the next few days sick to their stomachs about the problems he created.

So, Bengals fans, keep this performance in mind when the Bengals almost assuredly shell out over $30 million to No. 1 on a yearly basis. Behind Burrow, he’s the most important player this franchise has and he’s getting better each year.

It’s been a while since the Bengals needed to rely on Evan McPherson and he came through

There haven’t been many games this year in which Evan McPherson played a significant role.

But when the Bengals needed their third-year kicker to seal the deal and carry the team to a victory, McPherson came through once again.

McPherson knocked a 48-yard field goal through the uprights to lift the Bengals to a win in overtime on the road in a hostile environment. This was vintage McPherson. “Came through for us big time,” Taylor said of his kicker. “That’s a lot of pressure right there. They're going to get field position if you miss it and they just need a field goal to win it, so that's a high-pressure kick. I thought he kicked the ball really well.”With four games to go in December, the Bengals need McPherson at his best. Especially without Burrow operating the offense. The Bengals were never worried McPherson lost a step but Monday’s performance was a nice reminder of how clutch he can be for this team in big games.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Bengals still in NFL playoff picture after beating Jaguars