ANALYSIS: 3 takeaways from Bengals’ win at Tennessee

The three points likely would have been enough to at least avoid a loss in regulation, but the Titans would have had about a minute, 50 seconds left to come back. The automatic first down with the penalty meant Joe Burrow was able to kneel three times to seal the win.

The Bengals (7-4) moved to sixth in the AFC playoff standings with the victory and have won three straight and seven of their last nine heading into another tough matchup Dec. 4 at home against Kansas City.

Here are three takeaways from the win Sunday:

1. No Mixon or Chase? No problem.

The Bengals were without Joe Mixon (concussion) and decided not to push Ja’Marr Chase (hip) back into action after his first week of practice, but the offense continued to find ways to get the job done without two big weapons.

Samaje Perine and Trayveon Williams stepped up in Mixon’s absence, as both contributed big gains in the passing game and did just enough in the run game to keep the offense moving. Perine finished with 17 carries for 58 yards and a touchdown and added four catches for 35 yards, including a 32-yard reception. Williams had just two carries for 18 yards but added a 24-yard reception on third-and-12 to set up Perine’s touchdown to tie the game at 10 in the second quarter.

In a fourth game without Chase and on a day Tyler Boyd had just two catches, Burrow still finished with 270 yards passing, including a 27-yarder to Tee Higgins for the game-winning touchdown with 13:47 left for a 20-13 lead. Trenton Irwin made a clutch 16-yard catch at the sideline on third-and-12 on the play before that. Higgins finished with 114 yards on seven catches.

2. Stopping the run

Derrick Henry, the league’s leading rusher, managed just 38 yards on 17 carries (2.2 yards per carry) against the Bengals, who held the Titans to 63 yards rushing on 21 attempts overall. Taking away Tennessee’s bread and butter proved key, as Tennessee had to turn to its passing game to get any production out of its best weapon and didn’t have a second-half touchdown.

Henry had one big play, a 69-yard reception, that turned into a touchdown for Treylon Burks after Cam Taylor-Britt knocked the ball out of Henry’s hands and Burks recovered in the end zone. That gave the Titans a 10-3 lead in the second quarter, but the Bengals tied the game with a 92-yard touchdown drive and the score held until halftime, thanks to rookie kicker Caleb Shudak missing a 35-yard field goal. Henry wasn’t much of a factor after that.

Ryan Tannehill completed 22 of 34 passes for 291 yards, but the Titans were 0-for-3 in the redzone.

3. Winning in the trenches

Cincinnati matched Tennessee’s physicality on both sides of the ball.

The offensive line held off a Titans pass rush that managed nine sacks in the playoff matchup last season and opened up some running lanes for Perine, whose average yards per carry would have been decent without a couple negative plays. Burrow was sacked just once Sunday, though he also had an intentional grounding penalty with pressure coming from two defenders.

The Bengals defensive line only managed one sack on Tannehill, but DJ Reader had two passes defensed and ate up some blocks that enabled guys behind him to make plays. Logan Wilson led the team with nine tackles, and Mike Hilton came off the edge for some big stops as part of his seven tackles. Sam Hubbard had two tackles for losses and a 10-yard sack.

One of Hilton’s tackles stopped Henry for no gain on first-and-10 from the Cincinnati 25-yard line in the fourth quarter, helping the Bengals limit the Titans to a field goal that drive to maintain the lead and ultimately seal the win.