Netflix’s ‘Quarterback’ provides rare glimpse into one of Chicago Bears’ biggest wins through the eyes of veteran QB Joe Flacco
Netflix’s hit show “Quarterback” featured one moment Chicago Bears fans wouldn’t want to miss if they haven’t watched already featuring Joe Flacco’s reaction to the Week 9 shootout.
Netflix’s hit show “Quarterback” has been out for a few weeks now with the third season featuring Joe Flacco, Baker Mayfield, Jayden Daniels and Cam Ward. Most Chicago Bears fans likely didn’t pay much attention to the show and instead are waiting for their quarterback, Caleb Williams, to be one of the featured players.
I fell into that boat as well, however I took time over the weekend to watch some of season three to cure the football drought during the summer break. And Bears fans might actually find Episode 5 interesting because it featured Chicago’s Week 9 shootout against the Cincinnati Bengals with some first-hand reactions from Flacco.
If you haven’t gotten the chance to watch it, or would rather read about it, here’s a trip down memory lane from Flacco’s point of view.
Uncertainty going into the Week 9 matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears
Going into this matchup, the Bears were 4-3 and coming off a tough loss against the Baltimore Ravens, despite the team being led by a backup QB in Tyler Huntley. The last thing Chicago needed was dropping a second consecutive game to a second-string quarterback with Flacco starting in place of the injured Joe Burrow.
Flacco had some uncertainty of his own going into the game after suffering a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder the week before against the New York Jets. All while the Bengals were 3-5 at the time looking to keep their season alive.
“I’ve never done anything to my shoulder before, and just with things in the past, you never know how you’re going to feel,” Flacco admitted on the show.
The Bengals had Flacco’s back starting the game off with a 98-yard kickoff return touchdown. But, Flacco and the offense were slow out of the gate. Flacco completed just one of two passes on the Bengals’ first offensive drive, yet they still managed to kick a field goal. On the second drive, Cincinnati was down 14-10 and lost all momentum after Flacco was sacked on third-down to kill the drive midway through the second quarter.
That shoulder injury didn’t seem to bother Joe Flacco for long
All concern about Flacco’s arm injury subsided when he hit six completions on his next two drives including a 44-yard touchdown to Tee Higgins in one-on-one coverage against Nahshon Wright just before halftime.
“When I let it go, I said to myself in my head like ‘ahh’ because I didn’t think I probably should have thrown it,” Flacco said. “The catch he went up and made over the top of this guy was incredible. And then to go score a touchdown, even more incredible.”
The touchdown made the score 20-17 going into halftime after Cairo Santos had his field goal blocked in the final seconds of the first-half. After halftime, the Bengals had to rely heavily on the injured right arm of their veteran backup.
Bears took full control of the second-half, until Flacco started mounting his comeback
Cincinnati’s defense had no answer for Ben Johnson’s offense in the second-half. Caleb Williams and Colston Loveland connected for an early five-yard touchdown and then running back Brittain Brown’s 22-yard touchdown run gave Chicago a 30-27 lead entering the final quarter of play.
By the midpoint of the fourth quarter, this game looked to be over when DJ Moore’s 16-yard touchdown run gave Chicago a 41-27 lead. However, the Bears were up against a former Super Bowl Champ that’s played in big moments before, injured or not.
With 1:47 remaining, Flacco threw a 23-yard touchdown to Noah Fant that cut Chicago’s lead down to six after the successful two-point conversion. Then, the Bengals successfully recovered the onside kick with 1:43 remaining in the game.
“So now you’re like ‘it’s a one-score game, anything can happen,’” Flacco explained. “I’ve been in this situation before… We get the onside kick and now it’s like ‘alright, pressure’s on’ now it’s your time to go score.”
After successfully securing the onside kick, Flacco and the Bengals offense trotted down the field and marched all the way to the endzone with Flacco throwing his fourth touchdown of the game. A dagger that gave Cincinnati a one-point lead in front of the home Bengals fans. But, the story didn’t end there.
“We were very excited, but I know enough,” Flacco said. “I said ‘not yet, man. Not yet, you never know.’”
The actual improbable comeback from the Week 9 shootout
With under a minute remaining, Williams and the Bears offense came back onto the field looking for one more score to avoid the fourth quarter collapse. With 25 seconds left, Williams launched a ball deep in the middle of the field to his rookie tight end, who was surrounded by three defenders.
Loveland made catch in open field, in field goal range, but with no timeouts. For a split second, it seemed like there would be a race against time to get up there and stop the clock. However, Loveland broke out of the tackles and raced down the field for a 58-yard go-ahead touchdown instead.
Flacco didn’t add any reaction to Loveland’s touchdown – seeing it in person was tough enough. Loveland, however, did add more insight to the play during his recent interview on the “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast.
“The main thing was like, if you get walked down right now, you’re a meme,” Loveland explained. “At the time, I didn’t even know if we had enough time to clock this or what we got to do. So, was just thinking, just get into the (end zone)… Ten more yards, I’m cooked.”
It was a miraculous play that sealed the win for Chicago and became one of the top plays the team had all season. Loveland earned Offensive Player of the Week honors after that play, an award that could have easily gone to Flacco on the AFC side if it never happened.
That game was mayhem from start to finish and one fans might have needed this refresher on after some of the crazier games the Bears played at the end of the year. It was a fun one to look back on from a different perspective.