For the first time since the first Bush was president, the Cincinnati Bengals have won a playoff game. Cincinnati, the 4-seed in the AFC, knocked off the fifth-seeded Las Vegas Raiders at Paul Brown Stadium, 26-19, to punch their ticket to the divisional round of the postseason.
Despite one heck of a ref show, the Bengals and Raiders put on a thrilling game, one that came down to Las Vegas’ final drive. After forcing a Cincinnati punt, the Raiders got the ball with no timeouts left, 1:51 left on the clock, and 65 yards between themselves and the potential game-tying score they needed. Twice did the team convert a third-and-long, including a third-and-17 that got them into the red zone thanks to the reliable Derek Carr and Darren Waller connection.
There was a curious decision on the game’s final set of downs, as Vegas faced first-and-goal from the Cincinnati 9-yard line with 30 seconds left but decided to spike the ball instead of running a play. After two straight incompletions, the Raiders faced a fourth down where nothing but a touchdown would work. Carr dropped back, tried to rifle a throw into Zay Jones, and got picked off by Germaine Pratt.
Now, the Bengals will wait have to wait and see which team they’ll play next week as the rest of the AFC Wild Card round figures itself out.
