The Bengals roll past the Titans in a game marred by turnovers and penalties.

Denny Simmons / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It was ugly, but the Bengals came away with the 37-27 win at Tennessee to keep their postseason hopes alive!

Who DEY!!

The Cincinnati Bengals will look to keep their playoff hopes alive against the Tennessee Titans in the Music City.

After last week’s thrilling win in Dallas, the Bengals are still in the postseason hunt, but only if they win out. One more slip-up, and the playoffs are officially out.

Standing in the way today is former offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, now the head coach of the Titans. He also has former Bengals Tyler Boyd and Chidobe Awuzie with him, so this will be a reunion in Nashville for both teams.

It will get a bit dicey for the Bengals at left tackle, as Orlando Brown Jr. (fibula) and Cody Ford (illness) are both out for this one, likely leaving Devin Cochran to make his first start.

As always, this will be today’s live blog that we update throughout the game and serves as the full recap once the game is complete.

First Quarter

The Bengals lost the coin toss and after the Titans deferred, Joe Burrow and the offense took the field to begin the game and promptly gave the ball right to the Titans. After a first-play false start and a short pass to Mike Gesicki, Burrow threw a bad pass over the middle intended for Andrei Iosivas but was intercepted by the Titans, who took over at the 29-yard line.

Will Levis and the Titans came in with great field position and just ran the ball down the Bengals’ throats, scoring the game’s first touchdown on a Tony Pollard carry.

Things didn’t start out well at all for Cincinnati.

Already down a touchdown, Burrow and the offense went back to work. Burrow was able to find Gesicki and Chase to move into the red zone. A couple of plays later, Burrow eluded some pressure in the backfield and was able to buy enough time to find Chase Brown in the end zone, evening the score at seven after Cade York’s point.

The Bengals defense came back on the field, this time with a lot of green between the Titans and the end zone. Unfortunately, Levis was able to find Tyler Boyd for a first down on a third-and-long play, and then the Titans were further aided by a terrible defensive pass interference call that set them up on the goal line. Tyjae Spears broke the plane a couple of plays later to give the Titans a 14-7 lead after the extra point.

Burrow and the offense came back on the field, again finding themselves down by a touchdown. Burrow was able to connect with Gesicki again, and then Brown was able to carry the ball into Titans territory as time ran out in the first quarter.

Second Quarter

On the first play of the second quarter, Burrow evaded pressure like a magician in the backfield, keeping his eyes on his receivers. He threw a deep pass intended for Brown. The pass wasn’t caught, but pass interference was called, setting the Bengals up with first and goal.

That’s when disaster struck for the Bengals offense again. Burrow, evading pressure again, stepped up into the pocket but was sacked. As he was going down, rookie defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat was able to strip the ball away and rumble down the field, finally getting shoved out of bounds near midfield.

The Titans took over with good field position and a touchdown lead, but the Bengals’ defense finally showed up. After moving the ball into Bengals territory, the Titans left Trey Hendrickson unblocked on a third-down play, giving the NFL sack leader an easy one. Hendrickson stripped the ball away from Levis as he brought the quarterback down in the backfield, and it was recovered by Maema Njongmeta, giving Burrow and the offense the ball back with a chance to tie the game.

The Bengals took advantage of the sudden change in momentum and quickly drove the ball down into the red zone. After Chase set the Bengals up on the two-yard line, Burrow found defensive end Sam Hubbard, who was in the game as an eligible receiver at the tight end position, in the end zone to tie things up at 14. Burrow was sure to pick up the ball and handed it to Hubbard on the sideline, as it was the defensive lineman’s first and possibly only offensive touchdown.

The Titans took over again with just over five minutes left in the half, but the Bengals defense was ready. After a great run stop in the backfield by nickel corner Mike Hilton, Cam Taylor-Britt was able to pull down his third interception of the season, setting Burrow and company up with a golden chance to take the lead before halftime.

The offense was able to make the most of it. On a third and nine play from close to midfield, Burrow was able to find Tee Higgins deep. Burrow was hit as he threw the ball, but Higgins was able to split two defenders near the goal line and high point the ball for the touchdown. After the extra point, the Bengals took a seven-point lead with just over a minute to play.

Levis’ first pass of their next drive was tipped and then picked off by Hilton, setting the Bengals offense up with the ball in great field position. Burrow and the offense were able to get inside the 10-yard line, but with limited time, they weren’t able to punch the ball into the end zone, settling instead for a field goal, giving them a 24-14 lead at halftime.

Third Quarter

The Titans offense started the second half with the ball, but the Bengals defense came out of the locker room ready to play in the third quarter. Defensive tackle BJ Hill notched his third sack of the season on third down, forcing the Titans to punt the ball away to Burrow and the Bengals offense.

The offense was able to dink and dunk their way down the field, but Burrow tossed his second interception on a deep pass intended to Chase. Daryl Worley was able to step in front of the underthrown deep ball and hauled it in near the goal line, setting Levis and the Titans up down by 10.

The Bengals defense returned the favor a couple plays later when safety Geno Stone stepped in front of a pass thrown in the middle of the field and brought the ball all the way back for a pick-six, giving the Bengals a 31-14 lead after the extra point.

Following Levis’ third interception of the game, the Titans opted to go with Mason Rudolph at quarterback for the team’s next offensive drive. The Titans, with their new quarterback under center, were able to move the ball down the field slowly, but things got exciting really quickly when safety Jordan Battle was able to scoop up a Titans fumble, forced by rookie defensive tackle McKinnley Jackson, and ran it all the way down the field. Unfortunately, he just lost the ball while trying to switch hands before he crossed the goal line, and the ball went out of the back of the end zone. The Titans would get the ball back on their own 20-yard line after the play was ruled a touchback.

The third quarter came to an end as Rudolph was driving the Titans down the field.

Fourth Quarter

The Titans offense, being led by Rudolph, was just itching to give the ball back to the Bengals. After working their way past the 50-yard line, thanks to another DPI call, rookie corner Josh Newton was able to pull down the first interception of his career!

Burrow and the offense came back on the field with a 17-point lead and just over 12 minutes left to play, They drove the ball past midfield but were stopped, and Ryan Rehkow got his first opportunity to punt on the day.

The Titans drove down the field thanks to a few well-placed passes from Rudolph, but with time ticking away, it was clear their grave was going to be too deep to escape from. Rudolph found Spears for a 17-yard touchdown pass to draw within 10 with just under seven minutes left, but that’s as close as they’d come to the Bengals.

The Bengals offense came back out, looking to just milk the clock. Things weren’t looking great at first as Burrow threw incomplete passes on first and second down, but he was able to find Higgins on third-and-10 on another off-script play, setting the team up with the first down and keeping the clock running.

That’s when the Titans had to start calling timeouts, and the Bengals, through Brown’s speed, were able to move the ball on the ground. They entered into the red zone on a nice third-down draw play to Brown, and then two plays later, Burrow found undrafted rookie tight end Cam Grandy on a play-action pass to put the team on the one-yard line with a first down. Despite two pre-snap penalties, Brown was able to plow ahead for another Bengals touchdown.

Cincinnati took a 37-21 lead with just over one minute left in the game.

The Titans, unwilling to just take a knee and the loss, pushed the ball down the field. Rudolph found Spears on a check down, and the talented back was able to take the ball all the way to the Bengals’ 24-yard line. The backup quarterback was able to find rookie tight end Josh Whyle, drafted out of Cincinnati, for a garbage-time touchdown as the clock expired a few plays later.

The Bengals left the field with a 6-8 record, keeping their slim playoff hopes alive. They return to Cincinnati next week to face the Browns in Week 16.