CINCINNATI — Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco plans to play on Sunday against the Bears, despite dealing with an AC joint sprain in his throwing (right) shoulder according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor praised Flacco for his willingness to play through the injury. Flacco practiced on Thursday. The session was enough to convince him and the team that he’d be ready for Sunday’s game.
“When you see leaders and guys you’re counting on doing that, how can you not give your all for those guys?” Taylor said on Friday. “I know our record is what it is. I know some of the performances are what they are but the character in our locker room has been awesome to watch. These guys step up in practice these last three days, now we just got to transfer it to Sunday and go put a great performance together and find a win and just keep building momentum off of this.”
Flacco has completed 64.3% of his passes for 784 yards and seven touchdowns in three starts with the Bengals. Cincinnati sent a 2026 fifth round pick to the Browns in exchange for Flacco and a 2026 sixth round pick. That trade has given Cincinnati renewed hope that they can turn their season around with Joe Burrow sidelined.
He always planned on playing this week, as long as he physically could do it.
“I didn’t really give it much thought,” Flacco said. “You try to play. You’re the quarterback. You take it from there. My instinct is whatever we can do to get there and adjust.”
The Bengals blew five different double-digit leads to the Jets in their 39-38 loss to New York in Week 8. That makes Sunday’s game against the Bears a must-win if they’re going to get back in the playoff mix.
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