The Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 22-17 on Sunday at Paycor Stadium. On the final drive of the game, the Jaguars stopped the Bengals in the red zone to secure the win.
“Big win for us,” Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “It’s hard to win, especially on the road [in a] tough place to play. We lost a game like this in Denver a couple weeks ago, just a good bounce back for us. You’re going to have to win games like this throughout the season.”
Lawrence continued his strong 2026-27 campaign, completing 78% of his passes for 227 yards and a touchdown. Through four games, Lawrence is tied for the sixth-most touchdowns in the NFL.
In the first half, Jacksonville had 10 penalties for 100 yards, the most penalties in a half since 1991. Penalties wiped off two touchdowns and an interception for the Jaguars, while the Bengals had a touchdown of their own nullified.
“I’ve never been a part of anything like that in my life,” Jaguars coach Liam Coen said. “I’m not going to say anything to get fined, but that was just mental.”
The teams traded field goals on back-to-back drives, with Jacksonville reclaiming the lead on Cam Little’s second field goal. On Cincinnati’s field goal drive, star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase was injured on a hard hit by former Florida Gator Ventrell Miller, knocking Chase out of the game with a concussion.
Jaguars corner Jourdan Lewis intercepted his second pass of the season on the next drive, setting them up in the red zone. Jacksonville capitalized on the good starting field position, as Lawrence found Brian Thomas Jr. for the touchdown.
Coming out of halftime, the Bengals opened up with a 12-play drive, ending with a Mike Gesicki touchdown from Joe Burrow. The Jaguars responded with another field goal by Little to extend the lead to six entering the fourth quarter.
Cincinnati drove to the Jacksonville 10-yard line, but Foyesade Oluokun intercepted Burrow’s pass to save a touchdown. Through the first four games of the season, the Jaguars have a league-best +6 turnover differential.
“[Turnovers are] a pillar of our defense,” Coen said. “I’d like to believe it’s a part of our DNA at this point.”
The teams traded touchdown rushes on the following drives, with Chris Rodriguez Jr. breaking off a 25-yard touchdown and Burrow sneaking in on his. Jacksonville got Cincinnati to use all three timeouts, but had to punt after Parker Washington’s 40-yard catch was overruled.
With less than two minutes remaining, the Bengals were driving deep into Jaguars territory, having a 1st and 10 at the Jacksonville 21-yard line with a minute left. Burrow threw three-straight incompletions and found Chase Brown on fourth down, but was stopped just short of the line to gain.
Jacksonville improved to 3-1 for the second-straight season under Coen, marking only the second time the team has started with three or more wins in back-to-back years in franchise history.
Next up
The Jaguars are set to travel to their second home in London next week to take on the Philadelphia Eagles. Philadelphia has won five-straight contests versus Jacksonville dating back to 2010.
“We need more and more wins,” Oluokun said. “It’s a good uh way to start, but we got to keep this momentum going.”
Kick-off against the Eagles is set for 9:30 a.m. on October 11.