{"id":1018963,"date":"2026-10-05T04:42:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T04:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1018963\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T04:42:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T04:42:41","slug":"quick-thoughts-after-jaguars-week-4-win-over-bengals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1018963\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick Thoughts After Jaguars’ Week 4 Win Over Bengals"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE \u2013 Senior writer John Oehser, senior correspondent Brian Sexton, team reporter Kainani Stevens and correspondent John Shipley offer quick thoughts on the Jaguars\u2019 22-17 victory over Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium<\/a> in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sunday<\/p>\n

This was good, professional victory. This Jaguars victory wasn’t particularly pretty. Or dominant. Forget what it wasn’t and savor what it was \u2013 a solid victory, the kind contending teams must get to turn good seasons into playoff seasons. The Jaguars, as they did on the road against the Denver Broncos in Week 2, took a 13-3 lead at halftime of a “clunky” game Sunday. They then did what they didn’t do in Denver \u2013 and what they hadn’t done in their three previous meetings with the Bengals. They found a way to win a close game decided in the final minutes. “It says a lot about our team to be able to win these games,” Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence<\/a> said. “We lost a game like this in Denver a couple of weeks ago. It’s a good bounce back for us.” Said Head Coach Liam Coen<\/a>, “I’m proud of the growth and proud of the group for sticking with it and overcoming a lot of bad stuff.” The defending AFC South champion Jaguars had won two of their first three games this season by comfortable enough margins that Lawrence was out of the game late. They won an uncommon number of such games late last season in the same fashion. You usually don’t make your way into the postseason in one-sided fashion. You do it by grinding out victories when you may not play great, but you do what it takes to win. The Jaguars did that Sunday, another sign that this is a team that can contend for the postseason.What they are. Sunday was a complementary team victory, but it also was a quality day for the Jaguars’ defense. Yes, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow threw for 428 yards. And yes, the Bengals were hurt when wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase left with second-quarter concussion. But the Jaguars not only held the Bengals to 23 yards rushing Sunday \u2013 again showing themselves as one of the NFL’s best run defenses \u2013 they forced two game-defining turnovers and stopped the Bengals a yard short on 4th-and-10 from the Jaguars 21 with :50 remaining. Defense in the modern NFL is about big plays in big moments, and the Jaguars made enough such plays Sunday for a critical early-season victory against one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks.Finding a way. The Jaguars didn’t play close to their best Sunday and still found a way to leave Cincinnati with a victory. If you had told me they would commit 10 penalties for 100 yards in the first half? I wouldn’t have thought they would have stayed within two touchdowns. If you had told me they had a kickoff return into Bengals territory, a cornerback Travis Hunter interception returned into Bengals territory and two running back Bhayshul Tuten<\/a> touchdowns negated by penalties, I’m not sure I would have believed they would have stayed within shouting distance of Burrow. But they made a few key plays at important moments, none more significant than safety Rayuan Lane’s game-sealing tackle. “Gritty, not pretty,” linebacker Foye Oluokun said.The running game was the best it has been all season. Tuten and running back Chris Rodriguez Jr.<\/a> combined for 108 yards rushing and a 4.69 per carry average \u2013 and that was with 53 yards and two touchdowns nullified by a pair of holding penalties. The Jaguars’ running game is really good and on the verge of becoming an area that will supercharge Lawrence and the passing game. Remember: The Bengals have a highly-touted run defense and with the presence of defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence elevating the entire Bengals defense, it’s a good unit. You can feel it if you can’t yet see it: The Jaguars’ running game is very close to hitting its next level of production.The Parker Washington Effect. Wide receiver Parker Washington<\/a> has been the preferred target for Lawrence dating to late last season, but it seems now the league is game planning for him specifically. Washington, who leads the Jaguars in targets so far this season, finished Sunday with three targets and only one reception for seven yards. That reception came at a critical moment in the fourth quarter when the Jaguars could have clinched the game with a first down. But Washington stepped out of bounds shy of the line to gain and forced the Jaguars to punt. Going forward, Washington will need to capitalize on limited opportunities and also find ways to get open when a defense is tailored to stop him.Finding ways to win ugly. Good teams find ways to win in any circumstance, and the Jaguars did just that Sunday. Coen has said he “never apologizes for wins” so I won’t either, but Sunday could have been prettier. The Jaguars committed 13 penalties, 10 in the first half. Jacksonville entered the game as the least penalized team in the NFL but finished Sunday with 125 penalty yards. This is a game the Jaguars may have lost last season. The 2026 Jaguars found a way to win despite self-inflicted wounds and that’s a positive. It’s always easier to work on things after a victory.Strange things. Jaguars tight end Brenton Strange<\/a> had one of the best games of his four-year NFL career with seven catches for 95 yards Sunday, and he would have had an even bigger day if Lawrence had connect with him down the middle of the field in the second half on a play on which Strange was wide open. Strange did a little bit of everything for the Jaguars’ offense Sunday, breaking tackles, making tough grabs on third downs and putting the Jaguars ahead of the chains. Strange has been patient through the first month of the season with the passing game mostly focusing on the wide receiver position. Sunday, though, was Strange’s day.Hunter ascending. If last week was Jaguars wide receiver\/cornerback Travis Hunter<\/a>‘s breakout party, Sunday was quite the second act. Hunter played a career-high 70 defensive snaps against the Bengals with the Jaguars facing injuries at cornerback, and there were plenty of highlights in those snaps. Hunter recorded two pass breakups, his first multiple pass breakup game of his career, and one came in the red zone. He also had a first-half interception of Burrow negated due to a roughing-the-passer penalty on defensive tackle Arik Armstead. He also had perhaps the biggest hit of the game on a screen pass. He’s coming into his own in a big way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE \u2013 Senior writer John Oehser, senior correspondent Brian Sexton, team reporter Kainani Stevens and correspondent John Shipley…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1018964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,53766,227,256,2296,7,130,123902,131,133,53767,6],"class_list":["post-1018963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cincinnati-bengals","tag-bengals","tag-category-waste-pro","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-cincinnatibengals","tag-football","tag-front-page-headline","tag-jacksonville-jaguars-at-cincinnati-bengals-2026-reg-4","tag-news-front-page-headline","tag-news-jaguars-news","tag-news-quick-thoughts","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117386473862910954","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1018964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}