The Bengals won a Paycor Stadium shootout Sunday, and not just because Joe Burrow blazed away like no NFL quarterback since Doc Holiday stalked the O.K. Corral with five touchdown passes, one rushing (for the win), and 462 yards passing.

"We found a way to win today," Burrow said. "We lose that game for the last three years. It's hard to win. You want to be great snap in snap out, but it's not the reality of it."

The Bengals won a yardathon of 960 yards with the Titans by generating more than 500 for the sixth time in the eight seasons of the Zac Taylor Era.

Not just because Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins reminded everyone why they're the best receiver tandem in the league when they matched what hadn't been done in Bengals history since the duo of Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh pulled off catching at least 141 yards in the same game when Chase and Higgins were in preschool.

"It was huge. Shoutout to him (for being) the leader that he is," said Higgins of the monstrous effort from nose tackle Dexter Lawrence II. "I get to watch him every day come in and work, work hard and being an old teammate of his (at Clemson), I've seen it. To see him come here after a few years and be the leader that he is and play how he's playing is awesome."

The Bengals outlasted the Titans, 43-36, driving through an emotional car wash in their first overtime since the Paycor Christmas week of 2024 against Denver, scene of Burrow's last game-winning drive before Sunday.

Not just because on the day legendary tight end Bob Trumpy went into the Bengals Ring of Honor, Mike Gesicki continues to do what no Bengals tight end has done and grabbed a touchdown in his fifth straight game while rookie tight end Jack Endries made his first NFL catch a touchdown.

"That's kind of who we are in terms of our identity," said left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., of the team effort. "The reality is no one is perfect in this sport. And sometimes we need our defense and special teams to show up for us, and they did. That's something maybe we lacked throughout my time here. Maybe lean on each other. Throughout the course of the game, it's so important. Our brotherhood. That's who we are."

The Bengals stayed clean in the demolition derby of the AFC North because they also got plays on defense in between the gusts of greatness on offense.

The Bengals went to 5-2 for the first time since the Super Bowl season of 2021 because the massive Lawrence stood in the locker room after it was done with a jolly Santa Claus smile. After gifting the maddening crowd with a decisive sack with 27 seconds left in regulation taking the Titans out of winning field-goal range and his eight-yard run off a fumble recovery that set up a next-play 17-yard touchdown bullet from Burrow to Higgins, Lawrence declared, "I Iike it when they yell at me. They did their job today."

The Bengals board an eight-hour flight to Madrid in the only frame of mind possible for a date with the Falcons next Sunday because edge Boye Mafe worked the stunt to free up Lawrence for his sack, as well as logging his second strip-sack of the season to set up the Sexy Dance fumble return.

And don't forget defensive tackle Jonathan Allen drawing two more holding calls early.

"The difference is the grit," said safety Jordan Battle. "Big offseason additions. Those guys up front, they stepped up today, and they'll keep stepping up."

In their first seasons here, Mafe has 5.5 sacks, already double last year's two in Seattle, and nearing his career-best of nine. Lawrence has five, all in the fourth quarter, more than his 0.5 of last season as the perennial Pro Bowler closes in on his career-best of 7.5. Allen had two of the 21 pressures, via Pro Football Focus, helping returning guys like edge Myles Murphy, who had five pressures of Titans quarterback Cam Ward.

The additions (the blockbuster Lawrence trade, making Mafe the richest defensive free agent in Bengals history, the economical pickup of the two-time Pro Bowler Allen) lifted the Bengals' young vet like linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. on Sunday.

In a 21-21 game, Knight swung the wild pendulum back in the last minute of the third quarter on his impeccably-timed blitz that dumped running back Tony Pollard as the end-zone crowd roared the first Cincy safety in two years.

"I thought it was going to be me, but he flew out of nowhere," Lawrence said.

Knight chalked it up to watching Ward work the silent count.

"Run or pass, either way I'm running," Knight said. "They were using a lot of fake ID, hand taps, using the quick count, and I'm being able to time it up right so you get lost in the count.

"Watch mannerisms. The guard is throwing his hand or tapping the center. Usually the first time is fake, but usually when you get under 15 seconds (on the play clock), or some guys are different. Aaron Rodgers will hold it for two or three seconds. But guys like Cam Ward, he wants to see the picture off the first ID. The second one (when the guard taps the center), there's a good chance there's a snap."

Which means there's a good chance you win a shootout. Sunday was the fifth time since 2024 the Bengals had been in a game with at least 77 points scorched on the Paycor turf, and Bengaldom knows the roll call: Bears, Jets last year. Steelers and Ravens (in OT) in '24. Dex, Mafe Allen and the new guys made sure Titans wouldn't join the list.

"Oh my God. I won't sugarcoat it," said right tackle Amarius Mims after another dominant one-pressure performance in the face of 50 drop-back passes. "A lot of adversity. We've got a veteran team. We've got some great players. When you have a great team and great leaders, you find a way to get it done.

"I know it's not pretty to the fans, and we understand that. Just wait until we put a full four quarters together. We'll be a team to be reckoned with. I keep saying that. I know it's getting kind of old. I really do believe we can put the four quarters together and go out and dominate."

They are in pursuit of the complete game. That's why Chase was so emotional during the game and somber after.

"I'm not satisfied," said Chase after his first 100-yard game of the season with 141 dovetailed nicely with Higgins' 155 yards.

Sunday may not have been a complete game, but both sides of the ball were relieved what the other half did.

"As long as we give them a drive, they'll show up," Mafe said. "That's what our mentality is. We just have to give the offense a drive. If we can do that, we can trust them to make sure they do their job."

A few lockers down, Lawrence basked in the glow of an honest-to-goodness playoff run after all those years struggling with the Giants. How the crowds and the pressure make him even more intense, and how he embraces the leadership of a 5-2 team.

"We didn't grow weary of the process. We came out on top," said Lawrence, recalling how erasing last week's 13-0 deficit in Baltimore was so different. "This week we had to be stronger mentally. We didn't blow them out. It was still close. It's playing football. You never know what happens and play through whatever happens."

Which is how you win shootouts.