Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase Lead the Bengals Past the Falcons 34-17 in the NFL Madrid Game

The Santiago Bernabeu has hosted Zidane, Ronaldo and decades of Champions League nights, so it takes something special to make the place gasp. Ja'Marr Chase managed it in the first quarter, slipping behind a low safety for a 47-yard touchdown and then pantomiming a bullfight with Tee Higgins in the end zone. The matador bit landed. So did just about everything else Cincinnati tried.

The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-17 in front of 78,660 in Madrid on Sunday, as Joe Burrow completed 24 of 29 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns, ran in a fourth, and never turned the ball over. Chase finished with 10 catches for 155 yards. The Bengals have now won four straight to reach 6-2, and the victory was the franchise's first ever in a game played outside the United States. Atlanta, the designated home team, fell to 3-6 with its second loss in a row.

A Slow Start, Then a Rout

Atlanta came out swinging. Bijan Robinson ripped off runs of 19 and 21 yards on the opening drive, and Michael Penix Jr. finished it with a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Charlie Woerner for a 7-0 lead less than four minutes in. Cincinnati needed exactly five snaps to answer. On third down, Burrow saw the Falcons' safeties creeping toward the line and went over the top to Chase on a post for the 47-yard score.

Nick Folk's 31-yard field goal gave the Falcons a 10-7 lead after one quarter. It was the last time Atlanta led. Burrow capped an 11-play, 70-yard drive with a 1-yard sneak early in the second quarter, then found Higgins at the right pylon from 4 yards out with 4:03 left in the half, a drive that included a 31-yard catch and run by Chase. Evan McPherson tacked on a 57-yard field goal with 24 seconds left, and Cincinnati went to the locker room up 24-10 having scored on all four of its first-half possessions. Chase had eight catches for 142 yards by intermission, the most receiving yards by a Bengal in a half since 1988.

The Falcons did make it interesting for a few minutes. Robinson punched in a 1-yard touchdown run with 6:18 left in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 24-17. Cincinnati's response was immediate and decisive: Burrow hit Higgins for an 8-yard touchdown with 2:05 left in the quarter, and the two-score margin held from there. Barrett Carter picked off Penix at the Atlanta 43 in the fourth quarter, and McPherson closed the scoring with a 43-yarder with 4:36 to play. Even a brief blackout at the Bernabeu, when the lights went out on a snap in the final two minutes and the down had to be replayed, could not slow the Bengals down.

Burrow, Chase and the Show They Promised

Burrow was surgical. He opened 16 of 18 for 194 yards across Cincinnati's first three drives and finished with a completion rate north of 82 percent. His 21st touchdown pass of the season leads the NFL, and he has now thrown 55 career touchdown passes to Chase. Burrow said he "wanted to come out and put on a show for everybody," and he looked like a quarterback who had circled this one on the calendar.

Chase was the headliner. He caught 10 of the 12 passes thrown his way, and his seventh touchdown of the year leads the AFC. Chase explained the big one plainly. "We hit him with a post over their head because the safety played so low," he said. His summary of the game plan was even shorter: "It was just feed me." Burrow agreed with the logic. "When he's playing like that, you just have got to throw him the ball," Burrow said.

Higgins was the finisher, with five catches for 32 yards and both of his touchdowns coming inside the 10. The second one was the 50th touchdown of his career, and he has now scored in consecutive games for the first time.

Robinson was Atlanta's best player by a distance, running 19 times for 100 yards and a touchdown and adding six catches for 47 yards. Penix completed 20 of 31 for 162 yards with a touchdown and the interception, and he led the Falcons with 50 rushing yards. Jessie Bates III was everywhere on the back end with 14 tackles.

The Bengals Defense Settled In

The scoreboard will remember the offense, but the game turned when Cincinnati's defense stopped bleeding. Robinson had 42 yards on three carries on the opening drive. Over the rest of the afternoon he managed 58 yards on 16 carries, and after that first possession the Falcons scored 10 points the rest of the way. Some Bengals defenders reportedly switched to longer cleats after the opening drive to deal with the Bernabeu grass, and the footing looked a lot better from there.

"We just have to settle in as a whole as a defense," Carter said, and that is what happened. The Falcons went 5 of 10 on third down and turned 157 rushing yards into just one rushing touchdown. Carter's interception, his second career pick, ended Atlanta's last real hope.

The Numbers Behind It

• 4 straight games with 30 or more points for Cincinnati, which ties a franchise record last reached in 1997.
• 24 of 29 passing for Burrow, with three touchdown throws, a rushing score and zero turnovers.
• 142 first-half receiving yards for Chase, a career high for a half.
• 12 penalties on the Falcons, a number Penix cited after the game.
• 388 to 319 the total yardage edge for Cincinnati, which held the ball for almost exactly half the game.

What It Means

Cincinnati is 6-2 and tied with Pittsburgh atop the AFC North, and the schedule hands the Bengals a chance to settle that right away. They host the Steelers on Sunday Night Football on Nov. 15. Zac Taylor did not hide the stakes. "We have a major divisional game coming our way," he said. "Against Pittsburgh, they've already gotten us once this year." Taylor was just as clear about his quarterback. "Joe's playing at an unbelievably high level right now," he said.

Atlanta has lost two straight and has scored 17 points over that stretch, after a 16-0 shutout at Tampa Bay a week ago. Kevin Stefanski was blunt. "We were not good enough, we have to do better," he said. Penix pointed the finger inward too. "Whenever we come out here and have 12 penalties between all three units, it's tough to win like that," he said. "We can't beat ourselves." The Falcons host Kansas City on Nov. 15.

A Postcard From Madrid

The day had all the trimmings of a European showcase. Roberto Carlos sounded the Falcons' train horn before kickoff, and the crowd held a moment of silence for the victims of the Oct. 28 high-speed train crash in central Spain. Bengals fans appeared to outnumber the home side's, and Taylor said the loudest roar of the day came when the World Cup trophy appeared on the field. The Bengals took everything else. Chase and Higgins can workshop the bullfighting routine on the flight home.

Stats from the official box score via CBS Sports and ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press, Bengals.com and Local 12 (WKRC).