From Bears rookie running back Kyle Monangai to Bengals veteran center Ted Karras who grew up watching the Bears, no one had ever seen anything like what unfolded in that dizzying house of mirrors that was Paycor Stadium on Sunday.

"Those last couple of minutes, man," said Monangai, the seventh-rounder from Rutgers whose 176 yards bumper-carred Chicago past the Bengals. "Like I said, I've never been a part of game like this. It was high stress for sure."

Karras, in his 170 or so games of Super Bowls and Wild Cards and division duels, had just emerged from the fun house watching his team recover an onside kick with 1:42 left and take the lead less than a minute later.

"Never done that before," Karras said. "Pretty unique. Pretty cool."

Then he took a wrong turn and the fat lady sang.

"I have not seen anything like that game. It's a crazy ending," Karras said. "It's hard to denote something as a classic when you lose, but that was an all-time game."

It was an all-time game because 40-year-old Joe Flacco was John Wayne, Johnny Unitas and Joe Lee Burrow all in one No. 16 Bengals jersey.

With a right shoulder straight from a sports medicine seminar, Flacco delivered the NFL's biggest passing game of the year with 470 yards and four touchdowns. It was the eighth biggest game of the decade, and the only names on that list twice are Dak Prescott and Burrow, the man Flacco has replaced in one of the most incredible months in the history of the Bengals.

Burrow has the NFL's greatest passing game of the decade and the Bengals record with 525 yards in the 2021 Christmas Week rip of the Ravens, and he went for 481 against the Falcons three years ago.

But no Bengal has done what Flacco has done in his first four starts in stripes. He didn't throw his first two interceptions until the final ridiculous 2:42, but he's now thrown for 11 touchdowns and 1,254 yards, and a passer rating of 102.6, which is 22 points above his career mark.

"He's a freaking Hall-of-Famer," Karras said. "He goes out there, and you see his AC (joint), it's like crazy. And he goes out there and throws for 500? 475? 470? C'mon, man. You can't ask for any than that from your Q. What a great addition to the team."

The game had an old-school-AFL-shootout feel right from the beginning when the Bengals held a moment of silence to remember the late great Bob Trumpy, one of the greatest players and broadcasters in NFL history who was a rookie on the first Bengals team in the 1968 AFL.

And then wide receiver Charlie Jones became the first Bengal ever to start a home game with a kick return touchdown. Charlie Jones. The name of the old NBC announcer who would encourage Trumpy to go into the broadcasting booth after his playing career.

Then the game ended on Bears rookie tight end Colston Loveland's 58-yard catch-and-run stunner with 17 seconds left. It was the kind of long play that made Trumpy one of the first great pass-catching tight ends in the game. And, yes, 58 yards is how long John Stofa threw the ball to Trumpy for the first passing touchdown in Bengals history.

Never seen anything like it?

At 1,071, it was the biggest yardage fest in Paycor history with the Bears (576) and the Bengals (495) never stopping. It was a top 10 performance for Bengals head coach Zac Taylor’s offense, and the fourth most yards they've ever allowed.

Naturally, Joe Calm had seen something like this after waiting until his 199^th start to break 400 yards, and he walked you through it despite the madness that had just swirled about him.

"We beat Cleveland a couple of years ago when I was with the Jets in a similar situation. Nick Chubb ran in for a touchdown to go up by two scores. They missed the extra point," Flacco recalled. We went down and scored with under two minutes left, got the onside kick, went down and scored again."

What he didn't say is in that 2022 game he threw a 66-yard touchdown pass with 1:22 left and a 15-yarder a minute later as the Jets won, 31-30. Here's a guy still not even quite sure of the names, but who is clearly quite sure of what is possible.

"Make it a one-score game, I mean anything can happen. Onside kicks aren't very likely, but who knows?," Flacco said. "I think we were down by 14, we were going out there and I said, 'Hey, listen. Crazier things have happened,' to somebody and I think the tight ends coach was standing right there.

"At that point, I think fans are going through the same thing as players are at that point. So, whatever you were feeling, and the fans are feeling, we were probably feeling the same thing."

That would be pure dry-mouth-what-is-going-to-happen-next agony. When Loveland pin-balled through the defense for the winner, the hush of the 12^th biggest crowd in Paycor history told you where the ending ranked in Bengals history.

"I just can't believe it. Can't believe it," said Zac Taylor.

After losing two straight games at home despite scoring 80 points and heading to the bye at 3-6, Taylor no doubt turns to Flacco to keep things together as Burrow continues to rehab his turf toe.

Taylor already went to Flacco on Saturday in the pregame meeting at Paycor when he talked about how even though he had been there just 25 days, he had proven to be representative of his "Be-like-a-Bengal," creed of accountability and hunger.

Wide receiver Andrei Iosivas, who has battled with drops lately before coming up with Sunday's go-ahead score, called Flacco "one of the greatest leaders I've ever been around."

"He came to me and said, 'No one's judging you. At least I'm not,'" said Iosivas after his own eventful season-high 66 yards. "He knows. He's been in this league a long time. He's seen a lot of things and he knows how to handle a lot of things."

After Iosivas had a touchdown called back for stepping on the end line before catching it ("I was pushed out"), Flacco quickly went back to him and Iosivas was there for him with the nine-yard knife through Cover Two that gave them the lead with 54 seconds left.

One of the things the vets have to handle is bouncing a young defense back from allowing 281 yards on the ground a week after the Jets had 254. Never has a Bengals defense done that. On Sunday, they didn't have two of their captains with NFL sack champion Trey Hendrickson (hip) and linebacker Logan Wilson (calf) out.

"I've been in games like that, but I've always come out on top," said rookie linebacker Barrett Carter. "Our offense did everything that they could. They put up so many points and fought their asses off. We have to be better on our side of the ball. Allowing them not to be in those situations. No team should be able to run the ball on us. We just have to win our one-on-ones. We have a gap, we have to punish that gap."

The Bengals did their share of that on their side of the ball. They gave Flacco time to unleash some hellacious throws. For the third time, Tee Higgins (123) and Ja’Marr Chase (111) each had 100 yards in a game. The first time was Burrow's 525 game at Paycor. On Sunday, not even knowing if he could go last Sunday, Flacco whistled through the Bears for 10 yards a throw.

"Thursday was the thing," Flacco said. "Once I went out there and practiced on Thursday, I knew that I would be ready to play on Sunday. So, then it was just kind of managing my shoulder throughout the week. I'm lucky, I've played a lot of games, so I didn't feel like I had to go out there and get a ton of practice reps. I probably would have felt like that anyway, but thankfully the coaching staff also felt comfortable with me not getting a ton of practice reps.

"I finished the game last week. I played this week. I mean, it's not even in my mind that I wouldn't be able to do something like that. So now, it's just about getting rest and getting as healthy as possible."

Flacco already had on his mind Pittsburgh on the road on Nov. 16

"Obviously, we've got two weeks before we play again, so hopefully that helps," he said.

After a game that had an old-school feel, Iosivas talked about his quarterback in historical terms.

"470? He's flinging it back there," Iosivas said. "A statue."

That's what the pundits said a month ago when the Bengals made the trade. Flacco couldn't move, they said, and couldn't operate behind the Bengals offensive line. A statue.

A month later, it's a monument to the opposite.

"Statue," Iosivas said. "Strong."