The Jacksonville Jaguars were able to overcome a penalty-ridden game to still walk away from Week 4 with a 22-17 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. While the Jaguars had plenty of issues, they never fell behind in scoring, and managed to keep the Bengals from pulling off a comeback.
Previously, quarterback Trevor Lawrence had lost in every game played in Cincinnati, and were the only AFC team he had never defeated. That streak has now been broken, and Jacksonville is now 3-1 ahead of their first London game, in which they will take on the Philadelphia Eagles.
This was not a pretty game for the Jaguars by any measure, but they still managed to hold on to the win. Here are six things we learned after Jacksonville's Week 4 victory over Cincinnati.
Trevor Lawrence officially belongs among the NFL elite
Lawrence had a tough game today. He was sacked four times, hit even more, and was constantly under pressure. He also didn't have any explosive plays — none that counted, anyway (more on that later). Yet he still turned in a strong, efficient performance that carried the offense to the win.
He finished 18/23 for 227 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions, with a 122 QBR. He controlled the game and didn't let the nonstop pressure affect him. It's long past time for the NFL to acknowledge that he is legitimately an elite quarterback.
The offensive line play was up-and-down
As mentioned, Lawrence was sacked, hit, and pressured throughout the entire game. Protection was uneven, and then there were the penalties; the Jaguars went from being the least-penalized team in the NFL to having 13 penalties in one game. Offensively, nearly all of the penalties were on the offensive line.
The offensive line has been an ongoing concern, as far back as the preseason, and this game proved that these concerns are legitimate and ongoing.
Jacksonville's bet on Travis Hunter is paying off
The Jaguars started off slow with Hunter in the first two games of the 2026 season, potentially to ease him back into playing full-time after a season-ending injury last season. That quickly led not only to questions about how he was being used, but if he was a draft bust, even though his sophomore season had just begun. Jacksonville traded up to No. 2 to land Hunter in the 2025 NFL Draft, and there have been mutterings that it wasn't worth it.
Today's performance proved the doubters wrong. Hunter played well in Week 3 against the New England Patriots, but he had arguably an even bigger game today. He played solely on defense in this game, possibly due to injuries requiring a bigger presence at cornerback than wide receiver, and he looked like the shutdown corner the Jaguars expected him to be. He would have had a second career interception, had it not been called back due to penalties, but he was also consistently great in coverage, had pass breakups, and until Ja'marr Chase was taken off the field with a concussion, looked more than capable of standing against the best receiver in the league.
Jacksonville's defensive depth bent, but didn't break
Going into this game, the Jaguars already had a handful of important defenders out: Montaric "Buster" Brown, Christian Braswell, Jalen Huskey, and Jack Kiser were all inactive today. Then during the game, even more injuries piled up, with both Eric Murray and Caleb Ransaw taken out of the game.
Yet the defense continued performing at a high level. Jarrian Jones had a huge game, but Rayuan Lane was a big surprise, coming in to provide depth but going above and beyond what may have been expected of him. He had eight total tackles (six solo) and one pass defensed. Joe Burrow was constantly under pressure, the Jaguars had two interceptions, and the defense didn't let itself be broken when its starters were out.
Explosive passes are still a problem
The Jacksonville defense overall had a good game, but a recurring issue still reared its ugly head: the Jaguars struggle to contain explosive passes. Tee Higgins finished with a monster day, and then when Cincinnati had 1:44 left with Higgins off the field, Cincinnati was able to pull off multiple big plays to move the chains before the defense was finally able to stop them.
Jacksonville pressured Burrow relentlessly, but he still finished with more than 400 passing yards The rush and coverage were good enough to create turnovers and win, but the issue with explosive plays remains, and at this point, other teams are going to be taking notice.
Jacksonville may have found a legitimate one-two punch at running back
Bhayshul Tuten continued today as RB1, taking the majority of snaps, but Chris Rodriguez had real contributions as well, including a fourth-quarter touchdown that was the beginning of the end for the Bengals. Not only did Rodriguez get the touchdown, but it was a 25-yard run at that. Tuten, meanwhile, ended the day with 17 carries for 73 yards, and was the real workhorse of this offense today.
The Jaguars were endlessly criticized for letting Travis Etienne walk, with Rodriguez the only signing as his replacement. But after this win, it's clear that the Jacksonville run game has a lot to offer, with Tuten doing the heavy lifting and Rodriguez coming in clutch with explosive plays.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: 6 lessons learned after Jaguars Week 4 win over Bengals
