The game will be transformed into the iconic Simpsons world using Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology, bringing a fully immersive fan viewing experience from “Atoms Stadium” in Springfield, Ill., to Disney+, ESPN+ and on mobile with NFL+.
The traditional telecast will be available on ESPN and ABC, but in the alternate viewing option, each Bengals and Cowboys player will appear as a motion-enabled, animated player with Bart Simpson making appearances for Cincinnati and Homer Simpson siding with Dallas.
Kettering native Nancy Cartwright is the longtime voice of Bart on the long-running series.
While animation adds a unique entertainment value, the game has serious implications for both teams, sitting outside the playoff picture and holding onto slim hopes for a postseason berth.
Dallas (5-7) is five spots out of it in the NFC and three games back from the last team above the cutoff line, and Cincinnati (4-8) is just three spots back but with four fewer wins than current No. 7 seed Denver. A loss for either team puts them at less than a one percent chance of making the playoffs, which already is at just a three percent likelihood.
“We’ve got to do everything we can these next ... days to put our best effort, our best performance this season, in all three phases, on Monday Night Football in Dallas, Texas, and find a way to get a win and continue to build off of that,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “It’s a great opportunity. What more really can you ask for? I think our guys will respond well to that.”
The Bengals will look to continue their successful season on offense against a Dallas defense that has struggled almost as much as Cincinnati’s. The Cowboys are allowing 28.25 points per game, tied for fourth most in the league, while the Bengals have surrendered the second-most at 28.33 points per game.
Linebacker Micah Parsons leads Dallas with 6.5 sacks in just eight games to go along with a forced fumble, six tackles for loss and 15 quarterback hits. Former Bengals defensive end Carl Lawson had one of his four sacks this season last week in the Thanksgiving Day win over the New York Giants, and DeMarvion Overshown adds 5.0 sacks. Middle linebacker Eric Kendricks has three forced fumbles, and cornerback Trevon Diggs accounts for two of the team’s nine interceptions but has been injured the past two weeks.
Cincinnati has the edge on paper with its offense scoring the fifth-most points in the league and Joe Burrow leading the No. 1-ranked passing game. The Cowboys are scoring just 20.7 points (ranks 21st), while a struggling running game has them averaging 322.7 net yards of offense (ranks 20th).
Cooper Rush has the Cowboys on a two-game winning streak after replacing injured quarterback Dak Prescott during the Nov. 3 loss to Atlanta. In his four starts, he is 2-2, and he is 1-0 in his career against the Bengals, also having started the last meeting of these teams because of a Prescott injury.
In that matchup, Rush completed 19 of 31 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown, and he led the Cowboys down the field for the game-winning field goal as time expired for a 20-17 win. Cincinnati had rallied from an early 14-3 first-quarter deficit to tie the game at 17 with 3:45 remaining but couldn’t pull ahead on a three-and-out final drive before Dallas got one last crack at it.
Rush has CeeDee Lamb as his main target, connecting with him for 880 yards and four touchdowns on 79 receptions. Jalen Tolbert adds 451 yards and four touchdowns on 39 catches, but the next leading receiver, tight end Jake Ferguson, has been out with a concussion.
The Cowboys still have Ezekiel Elliott in their backfield, but he’s rushed for just 189 yards and two scores on 59 carries, while Rico Dowdle leads the team with 600 yards rushing on 134 carries.
“My message (Monday) was we’ve got great men; we signed up (as) NFL players and coaches and our jobs are to come out and practice like professionals and meet like professionals and play like professionals,” Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said. “And that means, what does that mean? It means having great energy, having great passion for the game, and play these five games and see where we’re at the end of it, you know? And I think that’s what the task at hand is. And I’d be disappointed if we didn’t approach it that way. I think that we have the right kind of guys that will do that, the right kind of leadership. And I’m confident that they will.”
MONDAY’S GAME
Bengals at Cowboys, 8:15 p.m., ESPN, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7
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