GREEN BAY, Wis. _ Now that we know the NFL's best player not only makes some of the game's most spectacular plays, but he also calls some of them, we can turn around quickly and see the big, bad, and first-place Steelers advancing on Paycor Stadium Thursday night.

"The next game is always the most important game because it's a divisional game, but also because of the standings and where we are right now," said Bengals All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase after another mesmerizing ten catches from a Joe he hardly knows.

"The Steelers are going to try and come in … and kill us. But we'll be ready for that challenge, and we'll be waiting for it."

The 4-1 Steelers are threatening to run away from the AFC North, and the 2-4 Bengals are the last folks at the station. Chase and his new Joe who has had some big days against Pittsburgh gave the Steelers something to think about with Sunday's second half of improv and intrigue that wasn't good enough to beat the Packers but good enough to ride a wave into a North matchup where norms don't matter.

The first half understandably amounted to the first team drill of training camp for quarterback Joe Flacco after he arrived at Paycor Stadium Tuesday via trade. His first four series netted one first down, and three went three-and-out.

But Flacco got into a rhythm with Chase in the last minute of the half in a hurry-up set that carried into the second half, where he engineered three straight scoring drives and topped it off dancing away from the looming Micah Parsons for a two-point conversion throw to running back Chase Brown.

"I thought as an offense we settled in. Probably sometime in the second quarter," said Flacco, who did exactly what they envisioned Tuesday in the second half Sunday when he hit 21 of 30 passes for 179 yards.

"And I thought that we were able to get over the hump in that quarter, but we came out and played a good second half. But usually against a good football team, playing one good half isn't going to be good enough. But we gave ourselves a chance there at the end and did some good things, but just not enough early on."

Chase, who wriggled for 110 yards last week from Jake Browning, came within six yards of another 100-yarder with the new guy. He had almost as many catches (10) as he had reps during the week with Flacco (12).

Chase wouldn't get into why he was limited in Wednesday's practice or his Friday illness, but it didn't stop him from making a stunning 19-yard touchdown catch with 4:11 left to cut it to 24-16. It showed how the Bengals reacted in the second half on the fly as Flacco and his receivers adjusted.

"We were calling another play, but I was telling him to change it because they were jumping a lot of routes," Chase said.

Flacco saw the Packers lining up for a five-man pressure and cornerback Keisean Nixon pressing Chase. You don't need 18 years in the league to know what comes next.

"We were able to take a shot, and listen, I mean, obviously, when he gets a one-on-one, I think you'd be wrong a lot not to go his way," Flacco said.

After Chase changed the play, the Packers switched it up on him. They went cloud as safety Xavier McKinney moved over to help Nixon at the right pylon. Nixon helped himself, pinning Chase's left arm and pulling down his right one. Chase promptly showed that Hall-of-Fame hand strength and somehow got his right one through the mess to pull it into his body.

"He threw the pass to me so I get a flag on it or I make a catch," Chase said.

Asked how often he changes a play, Chase smiled. "Here and there." But Flacco's cool, Chase observed, was unchanged.

"He's just so poised," Chase said. "He has a little more expression than Joe (Burrow). Very poised in the huddle."

Meetings and walkthroughs, and routes-on-air are nice. But the huddle in the middle of 81,000 hoarse true believers at an ancient coliseum is where they began learning so much about each other. Wide receiver Tee Higgins, who continues to discover the "Te----eee," chant travels well, had his best day of the season with five catches for 62 yards.

"Me, Joe and Tee talking in the huddle about a certain play. That's how we got the chemistry right there," Chase said. "I didn't really get to practice with him. I was out there trying to make a play for him. At the end of the day, it's throwing the ball up and one of the best receivers in the league have to make a play. Joe did well (in) communication with the receivers and talking to the receivers about what we like and what we see."

Flacco clearly likes what he sees from those two guys. And he wasn't even talking about the touchdown.

"I came over to the sideline a couple of times, and was telling Jake (Browning), just the way they pluck the ball out of the air," Flacco said. "I threw a quick out to Ja'Marr and I didn't get the ball great, and I think it was like an awful spiral, and he still just caught it with both hands.

"The one that I can think about to Tee, we hit him on a little inside slant route for a third down on that first drive in the second half, and a lot of guys would go down and catch it with their body and slide. But he just plucked it, right out of the air with both hands."

It also didn't take long for Flacco to figure out what they can do as they appeared to overcome most communication difficulties.

"I think it was pretty good," Flacco said. "I remember one play, I think we ended up kind of getting what we wanted. I think they got pass interference on Ja'Marr down the right sideline or holding or whatever they ended up calling. But I definitely didn't call the right play, and I said, that's kind of why I signaled out to Ja'Marr, hey you just run this route, I know we can get that done."

Chase was left to wonder what he can do with a full week of practice with Flacco. He won't get that until next week, but he was thinking about it.

"Joe Burrow and Joe Flacco are different," Chase said. "I've been playing with Joe for years. I've been playing with Joe Flacco for a week. Those reps I had with him were good enough, but we can definitely get better … A lot of room for improvement and we had a lot of improvement."

Head coach Zac Taylor doggedly stuck to the run on that 17-play drive that opened the second half after they could only get four carries in the first half. Before that last drive in the first half, he went under center more than half the time, more than what the Bengals usually do with Burrow and Browning. And on the long touchdown drive he went under four times before they had to throw nearly every down to get back in it.

Taylor had to overcome losing tight end Mike Gesicki on his second snap with a pectoral issue, and right tackle Amarius Mims missed nine plays. But they kept the All-Pro Parsons largely at bay with three-receiver sets.

Parson had no sacks and hits on Flacco. With one of the league's best pass rushes, the Packers pressured Flacco but not enough to get numbers. They sacked him once and hit him five times. Three weeks ago in Cleveland, the Packers hit him 10 times, sacked him twice and Parsons had two hits.

Like Chase, Taylor could sense a good vibe heading into Thursday off the second half.

"I think it has more of a chance to do that then not. You have confidence, but careful because we didn't do enough to win there," Taylor said. "But there is confidence on offense with Joe just showing up that we can continue to play off that. It will be an entirely different defense, a different structure, and we just have to come together as a team to figure it out and find a way to win."

Short week. Big impact. Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., who is second on the team only to Flacco playing in 33 AFC North games (Flacco has 67) felt the second-half yards.

"Joe played a hell of a game coming in under the circumstances," Brown said. "It was just getting adjusted to the flow of the game. Once he settled in and we settled in right behind him, the offense opened up. And it's going to open up more."