CINCINNATI — Zac Taylor’s first sentence to new quarterback Joe Flacco was a welcome to the Cincinnati Bengals. The second sentence from the team’s coach? Get ready to start Sunday.
Flacco was cemented as the team’s new starting quarterback one day after the Bengals successfully completed a rare intradivision trade Tuesday. Cincinnati sent a 2026 fifth-round draft pick to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for Flacco and a 2026 sixth-round draft selection.
When the team walked out for practice Wednesday, Flacco wore his new No. 16 jersey and started the process of getting acclimated for the upcoming game against the Green Bay Packers.
“He’s going to take all the reps and get ready to go,” Taylor said during his news conference Wednesday.
This will be the second time in four weeks that Flacco starts a game against the Packers. He started against Green Bay in Week 3 as the Browns’ quarterback, and Cleveland won 13-10.
The Packers certainly weren’t expecting to see Flacco again this season. Quarterback Jordan Love didn’t say exactly what he said to Flacco after their game in Cleveland, but he knows what he didn’t say.
“It was not, ‘See you in a few weeks,'” Love said Wednesday. “I was not expecting that one. But that’s how the NFL is, man. Crazy stuff happens. Obviously, it’s probably weird for the defense going up against him, pretty close timeline. We’ll see. It’ll be interesting for him. New team. New situation. We’ll see.”
Green Bay will face Flacco twice in a three-game stretch. They have only played one game, their Week 4 tie against the Dallas Cowboys, since the Cleveland game because they had their bye last week.
“I can say that I don’t think outside of a division game, I’ve ever seen the same quarterback on a different team,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “So, it’ll be interesting.”
There might be a few things the Packers defensive players can take from the Browns game.
“You pick up the little things that kind of make a quarterback a quarterback,” Packers safety Evan Williams said. “The unique little footwork that he has. Is he a guy that looks you off in the middle of the field? Is he a guy that is mobile enough? Obviously Flacco’s not, in this case, but yeah … those things differ from quarterback to quarterback, so you try to take as much of those unique details as you can and transfer that into this game. But at the same time, you understand that it’s completely new scheme, a completely new amount of weapons that he’s using.
“I’m assuming that they’ll probably just try to get the ball out of his hands quick into some playmakers that they got and he doesn’t have too long of a time to learn a whole system, so we’re definitely expecting it to be pretty rudimentary as far as scheme goes, but you carry the little details that he has individually, but most of that doesn’t transfer over.”
Flacco also played against his current club this season as well. He was 31-of-45 passing for 290 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions in a 17-16 loss against the Bengals in Week 1.
Cincinnati (2-3) opted to make the change at quarterback after Jake Browning struggled in Joe Burrow’s absence. With Burrow on injured reserve while recovering from surgery to repair a turf toe injury on his left foot, Cincinnati has lost three straight games, with Browning starting all of them. Taylor confirmed that Browning will return to his status as the backup, with former Packer Sean Clifford holding the role as the reserve quarterback on the practice squad.
“Welcome to pro football,” Browning said after Wednesday’s practice. “You’re going to get replaced. That’s what I’m going through. The general theme for myself is anybody that is going through some adversity, whether it’s football or personal stuff, if you go through it and deal with it the right way, there’s no way you don’t come out the other end a better version of who you are.
“For me, it’s obviously about responding the right way. Obviously, I’m pissed. And if I wasn’t pissed, then I shouldn’t be in this locker room.”
Bengals de facto general manager Duke Tobin informed Taylor on Tuesday that the team was going to be able to land Flacco. Taylor said Tobin sought his opinion on the possibility of adding the 40-year-old veteran. Taylor gave Tobin his full approval, he said, before Tobin finalized the process of executing the trade.
After the move was completed, the Bengals sent a car to Cleveland to drive Flacco down Interstate 71 to Cincinnati. The Bengals also transferred over documents for Flacco to study as Taylor called him on the phone to go over basic tenets of Cincinnati’s offense.
The added benefit of Flacco’s recent experience of playing the Packers this season should be beneficial as the Bengals travel to Lambeau Field this weekend.
“At least the one advantage we do have with bringing Joe Flacco in here specifically is he’s watched tape for a week,” Taylor said. “He’s played this game. He’ll still need to do the same thing, because they played two games since then, but at the same time, it’s at least there in the back of his mind.”
Flacco is not scheduled to speak to reporters until Friday, as he takes every available minute to get ready for his pending Bengals debut. Taylor did not have a timetable for Burrow’s return as he continues his recovery process. But in the meantime, Cincinnati is hopeful Flacco can be the lift needed to end a three-game skid and keep the Bengals in playoff contention for as long as possible this season.
“Our No. 1 focus is winning every game we can possibly win and go to the playoffs and go deep in the playoffs,” Taylor said. “That is 100% our focus, regardless of who our quarterback is. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
ESPN’s Rob Demovsky contributed to this report.
