Bengals offense cuts to the Chase as Cowboys are doomed by their own blocked punt

By Kevin Dotson, CNN

(CNN) — The Week 14 edition of Monday Night Football featured a pair of teams struggling through disappointing seasons.

With both teams’ hopes of making the playoffs all but evaporated, the Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals played like a couple teams with nothing left to lose.

In the end, it was a Dallas blocked punt that actually doomed the Cowboys, who lost the game 27-20 in stunning fashion at home.

Things looked to be going the Cowboys’ way in Big D when the Dallas defense got a clutch stop to force a Bengals’ punt with just two minutes remaining and the game tied.

The Cowboys fans at AT&T Stadium erupted as Nick Vigil blocked the Bengals’ punt, but delight turned to despair when the Cowboys’ Amani Oruwariye mishandled the blocked ball. Because Oruwariye touched the ball beyond the line of scrimmage, it was a live ball and Maema Njongmeta recovered for the Bengals.

With a new lease on life, the Bengals wasted no time getting into the endzone.

A three-play Cincinnati scoring drive was fueled by a 10-yard run from running back Chase Brown followed immediately by a 40-yard catch and run from wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase for the game-winning touchdown, his second of the game.

“We needed a break. We needed a break,” Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow said after the game about the recovery of the block punt. “We haven’t gotten many this year. It was nice to get that one, nice to come out of this with a win.”

The Bengals offense looked sharp from the get-go as Burrow, who is putting together an astounding statistical season, threw for over 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the first half, including 87 yards and a TD to Chase.

Cincinnati took a 17-10 lead to halftime after Burrow connected with Brown, who walked a tightrope down the sideline for a 19-yard touchdown. The running back then hopped into the Cowboys’ red Salvation Army kettle in celebration, but he had to wait on a replay review to confirm the score after the officials initially ruled Brown had stepped out of bounds.

Dallas responded in the second half by reeling off 10 unanswered points to take a 20-17 lead behind a 3-yard Cooper Rush touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks and a 47-yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey.

The Bengals tied the game at 20 apiece with Cade York’s second field goal of the game.

York, who was just signed by Cincinnati on Wednesday, got to make his Bengals’ debut in front of his girlfriend, Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Zoë Dale.

After the bitter loss, the ‘Boys dropped to 5-8 on the season and 1-6 at home.

“Really devastated by the turn of events on the blocked kick,” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “I was proud how the guys hung in there all day. The quarterback’s outstanding and I thought we did some really good things.”

Cincinnati’s pair of Chases were the key to the Bengals’ win. Ja’Marr Chase finished the game with 177 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns. Chase Brown meanwhile racked up 123 all-purpose yards and a touchdown of his own.

Burrow finished with 369 passing yards and three TDs, as the Bengals snapped a three-game skid and improve to 5-8.

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