The Bengals (12-4) are the No. 3 seed in the AFC and will host the Pittsburgh Steelers, the No. 6 seed, next Saturday or Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium. The Steelers beat Cleveland 28-12 on Sunday.
The Bengals managed just 98 yards on their first four penalty-plagued drives against the Ravens (5-11), but quarterback AJ McCarron welcomed tight end Tyler Eifert back from a two-game absences with a concussion on a 22-yard touchdown pass for a 7-6 lead with 1:49 left before halftime.
Ravens kicker Justin Tucker’s third field of the first half was good from 49 yards at the gun to send Baltimore into the locker room with a 9-7 lead.
But the second half was all Bengals, starting with linebacker Vontaze Burfict’s diving interception of Baltimore quarterback Ryan Mallett on the third play of the third quarter.
That set up a 5-yard touchdown pass from McCarron to A.J. Green for a 14-9 lead. On the next drive Bengals running Jeremy Hill converted a fourth-and-1 play for a 38-yard touchdown and a 21-9 advantage.
It was the longest run of the year for the Bengals and more than double Hill’s previous long of 17. Hill finished with 96 yards on 16 carries as Cincinnati gained 146 rushing yards on 27 attempts (5.7).
Mike Nugent added a 52-yard field goal to round out the scoring for Cincinnati, while the Ravens tacked on a 2-yard TD pass from Mallett to Kyle Juszczyk with 1:47 remaining.
McCarron was 17 of 27 for 160 yards and two touchdowns for a 103.9 passer rating.
Mallet was 30 of 56 for 292 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions for a 59.5 rating.
The 16 points the Bengals allowed brought the season total to 279, establish a franchise record for a 16-game season. The previous low was 284 in 1978.
About the Author