Bengals running back Chase Brown and his running game have been so hot as of late (his seven yards per carry in the last three games trails only the equally torrid James Cook and Jonathan Taylor) that he may be inventing plays after he turned a botched flea flicker into a thing of 11-yard beauty last Sunday against the Jets.

"Invent a new run scheme. Man, what would you call that?" Brown wondered after Wednesday's practice. "Fake Toss Toss? Fake Tossback? Fake Tossback Duo?"

On first-and-10 at his own 48 with about four minutes left in the first half, Brown showed a shrewd brew of invention and instinct. Head coach Zac Taylor called a flea flicker, and when Brown looked back in the middle of the line of scrimmage to lateral it back to quarterback Joe Flacco, he saw Flacco about to get drilled.

As that first offensive coordinator Plato supposedly once said, "Necessity is the mother of invention."

"The coaches tell you that during the week," Brown said. "Be aware of where the quarterback is and if he's in trouble, don't toss it back."

Brown kept the ball, spun back around and glimpsed a hole. The play was blocked as a duo with center Ted Karras and rookie left guard Dylan Farchild hemming in Jets defensive tackle Harrison Phillips. It was also another example of rookie right guard Jalen Rivers getting the best of Pro Bowler Quinnen Williams, washing him the way of Phillips and leaving a slash of Paycor green.

"I told Zac I was going to say that was a Zac Taylor play call and we practiced it all week," Brown said. "He just laughed. I don't know if I've ever seen it. Maybe back in the day.

"I couldn't really see anything. I saw a hole and ran to where the duo was. It was blocked as a duo."

Taylor, no doubt, has something like that in his arsenal. The man who assisted him with the Dolphins quarterbacks for three seasons a decade ago in Miami and comes into Paycor Stadium this week as the first-year head coach of the Bears certainly does.

Ben Johnson, architect of last year's "Stumblebum," touchdown off Lions quarterback Jared Goff's fake fumble, ran a fake flea flicker against the Raiders this year where quarterback Caleb Willams handed off to running back D'Andre Swift, and then Swift stopped, turned, and Williams went leaping for a fake pitch as Swift kept for eight yards.

Of course, that was all set up the week before against Dallas on a 65-yard touchdown flea flicker with Swift pitching it back before Williams launched a bomb to wide receiver Luther Burden III.

"I think when you add patience to any run scheme, it helps the blocks develop, and then the run lanes develop," Brown said.

It helped that five yards out, Brown made a Jets linebacker miss. It also helped that Brown says the offensive line is blocking like "the No. 1 line in the NFL right now."

But, he says, "I'm not sure I'd go into every game with a fake flea flicker," after disaster was averted. He'll keep trying to come up with a name.

"It sounds stupid," Brown said, "until you can do it consistently. Then it's a real play."

What's not stupid is after rushing for 51 yards per game in the first five weeks, the Bengals are at 126 in the last three.

"I think you guys have heard me talk a million times. Getting that first first down allows us to get into a flow, and we've done a much better job of that these last couple of weeks," Taylor said. "We got a chance to give the run game some opportunity there. And, sometimes people are so hellbent on taking away our receivers, it opens up a great opportunity, and our guys have done a good job maximizing that and we'll have to keep that up."

Brown says the O-line took it to heart when the coaches emphasized how everyone had to simply get better.

"They've worked really hard at it. Even when we weren't, really, statistically, on the tape having a great deal of success, we still believed we were right there," Taylor said. "We've had two young guards that have been playing in there, and they're only going to get better with every rep they take. We've been mixing in people in that room and ... they have a lot of confidence right now. Sometimes you just get into a rhythm and things start to click, and you find a little bit of your identity in the run game."

Slants And Screens

Taylor has been raving about Johnson for years. He is this week, too, as the surprising Bears come in 4-3. But the week you're playing a guy you know, or even your brother (Taylor's brother Press is Johnson's passing game coordinator), you subdue it. And, no phone calls.

"Incredibly smart. This is no surprise where he's at in his career, the job he's doing. I think anyone who's ever interacted with him would see this coming," Taylor said before Wednesday's practice. "Easily one of the smartest people I've ever been around. Great outside-the-box thinker. Very detailed. He's worked his way up the hard way." …

Even though Johnson is kind of doing what Taylor did (in his first year he's got an overall No. 1 pick at quarterback in his second year while Taylor had rookie Joe Burrow in his second year), Taylor can't remember Johnson picking his brain about it.

"I feel like our guy, he's just another level. I can't compare him to these other guys," Taylor said. "But a lot of times I don't invest the time into researching them because that's not going to be our player.

"It's hard for me to give advice to somebody else. Our guy came in during Covid. It was all Zoom … There's not a lot I can give people that's really going to help them." …

Safety Geno Stone isn't a captain, but when Zac Taylor challenged the defensive leaders to step up after Sunday's game against the Jets, he made a few moves. He talked to defensive tackle B.J. Hill and called defensive end Trey Hendrickson to get rolling Monday's players-only meeting for the defense.

"Let's get the guys together," Stone recalled the conversations. "Get the guys who are leading the group to speak up. People have been leading all year, but I understand where Zac was coming from.

"It starts with (the leaders) and then everybody has to follow. You're only as good as the last person in your group." …

First-round pick Shemar Stewart comes off a career-high 40 snaps against the Jets looking for his first career sack against the Bears. It's going to be his third game back since he missed a month with an ankle injury, and he thinks he's starting to get back to that early-season form when he was consistently active.

"If you don't practice, you feel awkward. You have to get back in your routine," Stewart said Wednesday. "I'm starting to feel like my normal self little by little."

Defensive coordinator Al Golden loves the guy and his approach. He's preaching patience.

"Infant stages, to be honest with you," Golden said this week. "Raw talent. You see it, but a long way to go in terms of catching up to the number of reps that the guys to left and to the right and behind him have had … He's an awesome young man, and he's going to continue to grow and improve. Every one of those reps is a learning opportunity." …