The Bengals look to close out the season with a three-game winning streak when they host the Cleveland Browns at Paycor Stadium on Sunday.

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Scouting Report

By: Michael Hull

Browns Offense

The last time these teams played, current Bengals QB Joe Flacco was under center for Cleveland. Cleveland is on its third starter of the season: Fifth-round pick Shedeur Sanders has started the last six games and played in seven total contests after third-round pick Dillon Gabriel started six games with a 1-5 record.

Sanders sits at 2-4 as a starter with seven touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. Sanders completed 17-of-23 passes for 186 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions in the Week 17 win. The former Colorado Buffalo now has thrown two or more interceptions in three consecutive games and has thrown nine interceptions since becoming the starter in Week 12. However, Sunday was Sanders' best game in terms of completion percentage, completing 73.9% of his passes.

Cleveland lost running back Quinshon Judkins for the season in Week 16 when he went down with a right leg injury. Fellow rookie Dylan Sampson started in his absence, carrying the ball 11 times for 27 yards. Undrafted free agent Raheim Sanders has received 19 carries in the last two games as well.

Cleveland has gotten a lot of production from rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr. The Bowling Green product leads all rookies with 72 receptions this season, ranks second with six receiving touchdowns and is fourth with 731 receiving yards. Fannin left Week 17 with a groin injury.

WR Jerry Jeudy has received the second-most targets on the team (100), hauling in 48 receptions for 585 yards.

The Browns have allowed 45 sacks this season, including 17 to Sanders in seven games played. They have the lowest PFF pass-block grade as a unit in the NFL (47.8). Sanders has completed 42.4% of his passes when pressured this season and thrown six of his 10 interceptions.

Browns Defense

The story of the Browns season has revolved around DE Myles Garrett and his pursuit of the NFL single-season sack record. Garrett needs a half sack to tie Hall of Famer Michael Strahan and Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt's record of 22.5 and a full sack to break it. Garrett was held without a sack and had just one QB hit in Week 17, his first game without at least a half sack since Week 6, also against the Steelers.

Garrett is the second player with 20+ sacks and 30+ tackles for loss in a season since tackles for loss first started being tracked in 2006, joining J.J. Watt in 2012.

As a unit, Cleveland has allowed the second-fewest yards per game in the NFL (278.6) and the second-fewest passing yards per game (163.8). The defense held the Steelers without a touchdown in Week 17 after they had scored at least 25 points in each of the previous three games.

Rookie linebacker Carson Schwesinger has the fourth-highest PFF defensive grade among all rookie defenders this season and is tied for the fifth-most tackles in the NFL (156). He's one of five rookies since 2000 to record 125+ tackles, 10+ tackles for loss and two or more interceptions.

On the back end, Cleveland made a trade at the deadline, acquiring former Jaguars CB Tyson Campbell in exchange for CB Greg Newsome II. Campbell is tied with Bengals CB DJ Turner II for the second-most passes defensed (18) in the NFL. In the seven games since moving to the midwest, Campbell has allowed 26 receptions on 51 targets for 310 yards and three touchdowns.

CB Denzel Ward is coming off his best game of the season in Week 17, not allowing a catch on two targets. In the first matchup of the season with the Bengals, Ward allowed three receptions for 18 yards on five targets.

What to Watch For

By: Diego Branda

Chase Wraps Up Historic Five Seasons

Ja’Marr Chase, who recently was named to his fifth Pro Bowl, will play the final game of one of the most statistically impressive first five seasons by any player in NFL history.

Chase enters this week's matchup with 512 career receptions, second-most ever in a player's first five seasons behind Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (536), who also will wrap up his fifth season on Sunday. Chase is just one catch shy of tying Tyler Boyd (513) for the fourth-most in Bengals history. He surpassed T.J. Houshmandzadeh (507) for fifth on the team's all-time list during last Sunday's win over Arizona.

Chase also ranks third in the NFL this season with 117 receptions, which are 10 shy of his career-high and Bengals-record 127 catches last year. With three grabs on Sunday, he would become the fourth player in league history to record 120 or more receptions in back-to-back seasons, joining Pro Football Hall of Famer Cris Carter (1994-95), former Pittsburgh receiver Antonio Brown (2014-15) and former New Orleans receiver Michael Thomas (2018-19).

Chase additionally has 6,741 receiving yards in his career, the fourth-most ever in a player's first five seasons. He is two yards away from tying Hall of Famer Randy Moss (6,743) for third and 43 yards shy of matching former St. Louis Rams standout Torry Holt (6,784) for second.

Chase's 53 career receiving touchdowns currently are the fifth-most in a player's first five years in the league, and he enters Sunday one shy of Hall of Famer Lance Alworth (54) for fourth, and three shy of former Dallas receiver Dez Bryant (56) for third.

Burrow on 300 Watch

Joe Burrow has passed for over 300 yards in each of the past two games, with a season-high 309 in Week 16 at Miami followed by 305 last week against Arizona. This week, he has a chance to go for 300 yards in three straight contests for the fourth time in his career. The last time he accomplished that was Weeks 10-14 of last season, when he strung together a career-best four-game streak.

Burrow last week recorded his 28th career game with at least 300 passing yards, which tied Andy Dalton for the most such games in team history. It also marks the fifth-most 300-yard passing games in a player's first six seasons in NFL history. Burrow additionally threw his 154th career touchdown pass last week, matching Carson Palmer for fourth on the Bengals' all-time list.

Notable Numbers for Special Teams Duo

Bengals kicker Evan McPherson and punter Ryan Rehkow both have enjoyed career years in 2025. McPherson this season has made 25 of 28 field goal attempts, the highest percentage (89.3) in any of his five seasons. He has five made kicks from 50 yards or beyond, including a team-record 63-yarder in Week 12 against New England.

With his efforts this year, McPherson has improved his total career made field goals to 119, which are just one shy of tying former kicker Horst Muhlmann (120) for the fifth-most in Bengals history. He also has climbed the team's charts in all-time scoring, with his 561 points ranking fifth, as well as PATs, where he ranks fourth with 204 in his career.

McPherson is a perfect 20-for-20 on field goal attempts inside of 50 yards this season. He is the first Bengals kicker ever to make that many field goals inside of 50 without a miss, and he is one of six kickers in the NFL this year to go 100 percent on at least 20 attempts from that range.

Rehkow currently ranks second in the NFL this season in gross punting average (51.1 yards per punt) and ninth in net average (42.9). He now has 113 total punts in his two pro seasons, which qualifies him for the Bengals' career punting records (minimum 100). His career gross average (50.1) and net average (42.9) both currently are a team record entering Week 18.

Rehkow has 24 punts which have been downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line this season, with seven coming over the past three games.

Offense Shoots for Another Big Day

The Bengals' offense scored a season-high 45 points in Week 16 at Miami, then followed up with 37 more in the Week 17 victory against Arizona. The 82 combined points marked the most by Cincinnati over a span of two games since Weeks 12-13 of the 2004 campaign, when it totaled 85 points in wins over Cleveland and Baltimore.

The last time the Bengals scored 37 or more points in three straight games was Weeks 11-13 of the 2005 season, when they put up 37 against Indianapolis, 42 versus Baltimore and 38 against Pittsburgh. Cincinnati also has a chance to net 400 yards of offense in three straight contests for the first time since Weeks 3-5 of the 2015 campaign.

Three-Game Winning Streak on the Line

With a win over the Browns on Sunday, Cincinnati would be the only team in the NFL to finish the regular season on a winning streak of three or more games in both the 2024 and 2025 campaign. The Bengals closed out the season with three or more consecutive wins in back-to-back years on one previous occasion, doing so in 1996 and 1997.

Since 2022, the Bengals have a 16-5 record in regular-season games played in December or January, which is the second-best mark in the NFL behind Buffalo (17-3).

Extra Points

• Halfback Chase Brown has 947 rushing yards this season and needs 53 more to reach the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the first time in his career. He is 43 away from tying his career-high 990 rushing yards from last season.
• Cornerback DJ Turner II is tied for second in the NFL with 18 passes defensed this season. With two more, he would become the first Bengals player with 20 PDs in a season since 2009, when Leon Hall had 24 and Johnathan Joseph had 20.
• The Bengals have given up just 12 sacks since returning from the bye in Week 11, the 12th-fewest in the NFL during that stretch. This week, the offensive line takes on a Browns team that ranks third leaguewide in total sacks (51), led by All-Pro Myles Garrett, whose 22 sacks are 0.5 shy of the NFL single-season record.

Check out the Bengals 2025 Schedule.