Joe Flacco showed he can save the Bengals' season, but the veteran QB only has three days to do it

There's no such thing as a moral victory in the NFL, but let's go ahead and give one to the Cincinnati Bengals anyway, because they got exactly what they needed on Sunday: They went into Green Bay with a quarterback who barely knew the playbook and went toe to toe with the Packers in a 27-18 loss. 

Did the Bengals win? No, but Joe Flacco did show that last week's surprising trade was worth it and that he might have what it takes to save Cincinnati's season. 

After being traded from Cleveland to Cincinnati on Oct. 7, Flacco only had four days to learn the Bengals offense, and during the first half in Green Bay, he played like a guy who only had four days to learn the offense. In the first quarter, the Bengals totaled just ONE yard -- yes, 1 yard -- which wasn't exactly encouraging for a team hoping that Flacco would provide some sort of offensive spark. 

But in the second quarter, something clicked for Flacco. Suddenly, he knew exactly what he was doing. It was like studying for a calculus test that you knew you were going to fail, but 10 minutes into the test, you suddenly knew all the answers. That was Flacco on the Bengals' final possession of the first half. The Bengals' first four possessions all ended with a punt -- including three that went three-and-out -- but on that fifth possession, the Bengals had their first drive of the game that went for more than 20 yards. 

Flacco completed four passes for 27 yards on the drive, and suddenly he could feel it. 

"I thought as an offense we settled in, you know probably sometime in the second quarter," Flacco said after the game. "And I thought that we were able to get over the hump in that quarter but we came out and played a good second half."

Flacco didn't just get over the hump in the second half, he set the hump on fire. Over the final two quarters, Flacco completed 70% of his passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns. He even spread the ball around: He completed at least one pass to eight different receivers. He also made some magic happen with Ja'Marr Chase, who caught 10 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. 

Chase's score came on an improbable fourth-down play where the receiver made a miraculous catch on a perfect throw from Flacco. 

It was an impressive connection considering Flacco and Chase never really got to practice together in the lead-up to the game. Chase was limited during Flacco's first practice on Wednesday and then he came down with an illness on Thursday night, so the receiver wasn't able to practice at all on Friday. 

"I didn't really get to practice with him," Chase said after the game, via Mike Petraglia of CLNS Cincy. "I was just out there trying to make a play for him."

Now that he's played one game with them, Flacco knows what his receivers are capable of. Of course, Flacco knew that Chase and Tee Higgins were both good receivers, but it's one thing to watch it on film and another to actually throw them passes in a game. Flacco seemed to come away wowed by his new teammates. 

"I came over to the sideline a couple of times, and was telling Jake (Browning) like, just the way they pluck the ball out of the air," Flacco said of throwing to Chase and Higgins. "I threw a quick out route to Ja'Marr and I didn't get the ball great and I think it was like an awful spiral, and he still just caught it with both hands. The one that I can think about to Tee, we hit him on a little inside slant route for a third down on I think on that first drive in the second half, and a lot of guys would go down and catch it with their body and slide but he just plucked it, right out of the air with both hands. It's pretty impressive to see where this guy's going."

The Higgins catch that Flacco is referring to came on a third-and-4 in the third quarter and the 9-yard reception kept the drive alive. The drive ended up being a 17-play, 78-yard monster that ate up more than 10 minutes of the third quarter. 

"We started to get in a little rhythm," Flacco said of the third quarter drive. "I think that first drive really helped. I mean any time you can keep a defense, its not easy when you have to go 20 plays to score a touchdown, but any time you can keep a defense on the field that long, it is to your advantage."

The final play of that third quarter drive was an impressive 2-yard pass from Flacco to Tanner Hudson that came on fourth-and-goal. 

The Bengals went for it twice on fourth down in the game and Flacco was absolutely clutch, going 2-for-2 for 21 yards and two touchdowns. 

Flacco was certainly an upgrade at quarterback over Browning and he proved that he might be able to save their season, but the problem is that he's only going to have three days to do it. The 2-5 Bengals will be hosting the 4-1 Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night in what is essentially a must-win game for Cincinnati. 

Flacco has been with the Bengals for less than a week and he's already very well aware of how big Thursday's game is. 

"Listen, we got a big week coming up, and these division games are always good matchups and going in and playing a good game this upcoming week could help a lot with that," Flacco said of possibly turning the season around. 

If the Bengals lose and fall to 2-5, that would all but drop them out of the AFC North race and it's unlikely they'd even be able to get back in the wild card race. It took 10 wins to earn a wild card berth last year and if that's the case this season, the Bengals would have to go 8-2 over their final nine games assuming they lose to the Steelers. 

If there's one thing Flacco has proven that he can do in his career, it's beating the Steelers. The Bengals quarterback has 11 career wins over Pittsburgh, including a 27-24 win last season while he was playing for the Indianapolis Colts. Flacco will only have three days to prepare for the Steelers, but after only getting three practices to prepare for the Packers, this should be a walk in the park for the veteran quarterback.