BALTIMORE _ It wasn't exactly the Gettysburg Address, but after Ja’Marr Chase’s angry halftime message spawned four scores by Joe Burrow in Sunday's absolutely necessary 35-13 AFC North win over the Ravens, it is now a touchstone of this season.

"I don't think I've shut up. I was getting on everybody," said Chase, hoarseness starting to creep in like the Bengals in the division, now at 4-2.

"I've done it before," said Chase of his halftime words. "Last time I cried. I didn't cry this time. Geesh. I was really emotional at the moment. (Today) I was very pissed. Not that emotional. I think it was needed."

No one disagreed as Bengals head coach Zac Taylor shouted out Chase's leadership before giving everyone a game ball, and it was just as well. In the crucible of a 13-0 halftime deficit in the NFL's toughest building for opposing offenses to score in the 21^st century, Taylor's staff and roster kept their collected heads to own the second half.

As if it were a pickup game on Cynthia Circle back in his Wonder Years days growing up in Norman, Okla., Taylor purred into the headsets to guide Burrow through a return to what his Bengals teams have done best.

"We know who we are, we know who we have to be, and we let our big-time players go and make big-time plays," Burrow said.

Taylor put him in the shotgun for all but three snaps in the five touchdown drives and watched Burrow gut the Ravens for a 143.3 passer rating, second-best against Baltimore in this decade, and slightly better than his 143.2 here five years ago.

That was the last time they were here in the light of day, another huge win on the weekend of Oct. 23-25 back in 2021 that set the table for the Bengals AFC North title. A good time for Burrow to shed light on the guts of his team.

"Your players can bring the fire, and you don't have to calm each other down despite a coaching staff that might overreact to certain things," Burrow said. "That goes with not riding the roller coaster of the emotions of the NFL that I talk to you guys about all the time. That really starts with the head coach and permeates down through the rest of the locker room, and that's how I think it should be."

Not only was Chase chirping. There was nose tackle Dexter Lawrence II in the middle of the defense barking at them, "Who are we going to be in this moment?" Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., who, yes, shut out Trey Hendrickson, implored his mates in pregame to stay emotional. Veteran safety Bryan Cook yelling the secondary through their checks while delivering a mega third-and-one stop in the first half and splitting a sack on third-and-two in the second half.

And wide receiver Tee Higgins, who wouldn't say stuff if he had a mouthful, spoke with another gargantuan 148-yard day. Chase implored someone to make a play, and Higgins made two monsters in the first drive of the second half. He came back on a ball over the middle to swipe an interception from Ravens All-Pro middle linebacker Roquan Smith for 19 yards, and then converted a third-and-three with one of his in-breakers that has become money as he won this AFC North rock-em-sock-em with the Ravens great safety, Kyle Hamilton, in the middle of the field.

As Higgins lowered his shoulder, Taylor kept his head and the Ravens committed 10 penalties to the Bengals' one. A big one came in the first half and the Bengals down, 7-0, just after Cook had taken out the legs of 252-pound Derrick Henry on an immeasurably important blitz for no gain on third-and-one at the Bengals 11.

The Ravens were going for it until rookie tight end Matt Hibner, a fourth-round pick, false-started to turn it into a field goal.  Meanwhile, Taylor had to turn to his seventh-round tight end Jack Endries when Erick All Jr. went down with another right knee injury after three key catches and his big blocks were so big in the comeback.

Endries got the battlefield promotion with just one NFL snap under his belt and, after a week of scout team work, found himself for the first time on the goal line with Burrow checking. No flags. Endries went in motion to block the edge as running back Samaje Perine scored from a yard out with Hamilton flying by him for a backfield whiff to hike it to 21-13 with 11:14 left.

"We have a no-flinch mentality," said edge Boye Mafe, who, with 1.5 more sacks, has proven to be the best buy on the market since, well, Hendrickson. "I keep saying that. That's what we're going to do all year. The offense has trust in us and we're just going to keep rolling."

What impressed Mafe is that there was no finger-pointing during halftime. Just Chase calling out his offense. No position was safe.

"I was on everybody. O-Line. Tight ends," Chase said.

A half-hour after it was over, linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. had to smile as he heard Chase still chattering on the way to the training room.

"(Taylor)'s not feeling the pressure, the need to speak up. He knows he's got people like Ja'Marr over there yelling right now like he was at halftime," Knight said.  "The leaders that we pick to lead us, those are guys with his  voice, but also the voice of this team."

And the leaders led. Brown allowed just two pressures on Burrow's 34 dropbacks and opened up the longest run of the season on Perine's 15-yard bolt through Brown and left guard Dylan Fairchild that he finished off with a stiff-arm in the red zone to set up another touchdown.

"I had a message pregame," Brown said. "When we let our emotions roll, and we're celebrating with each other, and we're talking crap, and we're very in the moment, we're a hard team to beat. We came out really slowly. In the second half, it's who we are. The overall mentality was just much better."

And Chase reinforced it with halftime oratory.

"It was needed," Brown said.

The Bengals were saying all the right things. Brown talked about what a great player Hendrickson is and how much respect he has for him. Burrow said he liked getting hit by him (twice, but no sacks), and looked forward to seeing him again with no cameras.

But clearly Chase said it all in a locker room that was saying the true Bengals showed up in the second half.

"Aggressive team that does it all," said Chase of a team that cleared its throat for a second-half statement.