NASHVILLE — The Cincinnati Bengals have a knack for beating the Tennessee Titans at their own game, which means playing more physically than opponents and forcing them into mistakes at the wrong time.
They did it again Sunday at Nissan Stadium.
Joe Burrow threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins with 13:42 left to put Cincinnati ahead to stay, and the Bengals held off the Titans 20-16 for their third straight victory and fifth in six games.
“This is the kind of game that great teams win,” Burrow said after Cincinnati improved to 7-4 and moved into a first-place tie with the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North Division standings. “It’s not always going to be pretty. This is the NFL. You’re playing really, really good teams on the opposing end. You’ve got to find ways to win, and we’re starting to do that.”
The reigning AFC champions won the rematch of their divisional-round playoff victory over Tennessee — the Titans were the conference’s top seed when they lost 19-16 to the Bengals on the same field in January — despite not having running back Joe Mixon because he hadn’t cleared the concussion protocol. In addition, receiver Ja’Marr Chase, the reigning offensive rookie of the year, missed a fourth straight game with a hip injury.