CINCINNATI — Tee Higgins knew what Saturday night represented for him and the Cincinnati Bengals.
With his contract up after this season, the wide receiver understood that the matchup against the Denver Broncos could have been his final home game with the team that drafted him. He also knew that Cincinnati needed to win to keep its playoff hopes alive.
On top of all of that, Higgins was dealing with an ankle and knee injury. So at the beginning of the week, Higgins sent coach Zac Taylor a brief text message during a team meeting that set the tone for the rest of the week: “I’m playing.”
With the season on the line, Higgins turned in a career performance. He had the winning touchdown that sealed a 30-24 overtime victory over the Denver Broncos, which keeps Cincinnati in postseason contention entering Week 18.
“I hope not, but that could have been my last game in the [Bengals] stripes here,” Higgins said afterward. “This game, it meant a lot more to me coming into it. Definitely a surreal feeling.”
His line on the night: 11 catches on 12 targets for 131 yards and three touchdowns, his most in his five seasons in the NFL.
He also ensured that the Bengals (8-8) avoided a gutting loss.
Cincinnati had two chances to win. First, the Bengals allowed a tying score with :08 left in regulation when Denver quarterback Bo Nix threw a 25-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1 to Marvin Mims, who made the catch despite being sandwiched between two defenders. Then, in overtime, kicker Cade York smacked a potential 33-yard winning field goal off the left upright, extending the game further.
After Cincinnati’s defense forced a three-and-out, Higgins made sure the Bengals wrapped the game up for good. With 1:14 left, he caught a 31-yard pass that put the Bengals a few yards from the goal line. On the next play, he caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Burrow that ended the game and sealed Cincinnati’s fourth straight win.
When the Bengals started this streak with a win over the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 9, Burrow said he was confident the team could re-sign Higgins, which has seemed unlikely following two failed negotiations.
On Saturday night, Burrow was a little less emphatic about placing Higgins in the team’s long-term future. But he acknowledged how valuable Higgins is for the team’s offense.
“Everybody can see what kind of player he is,” said Burrow, who was 39-of-49 passing for 412 yards and the touchdowns to Higgins. “He elevates us to a different level when he’s playing like that, and lucky to be a part of what we have going on right here.”
It wasn’t all smooth for Higgins. The 2020 second-round pick out of Clemson had a fumble in the fourth quarter that flipped a potential first down into a Broncos possession.
Higgins credited rookie wide receiver Jermaine Burton for uplifting him when he returned to the sideline following the turnover.
“Don’t worry about that,” Burton told Higgins. “You’re going to come back and win the game for us.”
That’s exactly what happened. Taylor called Higgins “a warrior” repeatedly in his postgame news conference, which is where he divulged the text from earlier in the week.
The Week 17 tilt was the type that took a toll on players.
Offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. told reporters that he suited up despite a fibula broken in two different spots. Running back Chase Brown suffered a sprained ankle while sliding at the 1-yard line in regulation that would have set up a potential winning field goal. Instead, the Bengals successfully went for a touchdown, which gave Denver the chance to tie the game and force overtime.
The severity of Brown’s injury was unclear immediately after the game.
“I’ll just handle it one day a time and see how I feel from there,” Brown said when asked about his availability for the regular-season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The same can be said for Higgins, who will have at least one more game with the Bengals, depending on whether Cincinnati can get losses from the Broncos, Indianapolis Colts and Miami Dolphins and beat Pittsburgh next week. His one-year franchise tag expires at the end of the season.
But if it is the end for him in Cincinnati, he’ll know his final game at Paycor Stadium ended with a winning touchdown.
“It’s the best feeling ever,” Higgins said. “Couldn’t go out a better way.”
