When Joe Flacco, acquired by the Bengals from the Cleveland Browns, started a game for Cincinnati against the Green Bay Packers, he became the oldest quarterback in franchise history to start a game or throw a pass.
When Boomer Esiason started five games for the Bengals in 1997, he was 36. When Ken Anderson started two games for Cincinnati in 1985, he was 36.
Flacco is second only to Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who is 41, among the NFL’s oldest active quarterbacks.
Rodgers is the only Week 1 starting QB in the AFC North who hasn’t been injured or benched.
The Bengals and Steelers are scheduled to meet in NFL Week 7 at Paycor Stadium on Thursday Night Football.
Rodgers is 2-2 against the Bengals in 20 NFL seasons, with all four of those games taking place while he quarterbacked the Green Bay Packers.
Flacco and the Broncos lost to Rodgers’ Packers in 2019. As the Ravens’ starter, Flacco was 0-2 against Green Bay with Rodgers starting.
Rodgers’ only matchup with Joe Burrow ended in heartbreak for the Bengals
When Rodgers brought the Packers to Cincinnati in October of the 2021 season that concluded with a Bengals’ Super Bowl appearance, both teams entered the game with 3-1 records.
The Bengals scored on a Joe Mixon touchdown run with 3:27 left in the 4th quarter, and tied the game on a 2-point conversion from Burrow to Tee Higgins.
But a 49-yard field goal by Mason Crosby in overtime gave the Packers a 25-22 win.
Rodgers was 27-of-38 for 344 passing yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Burrow, referred to by former teammate Mike Daniels before that season as “baby Aaron Rodgers,” finished 26-of-38 for 281 passing yards with two TDs and two INTs.
Rodgers’ Packers beat the Bengals in overtime in 2017
When Andy Dalton and the Bengals visited Lambeau Field in September 2017, they led 21-7 at the half.
But the Packers rallied to outscore Cincinnati 17-3 in the second half, and beat the Bengals on a Crosby field goal at the end of OT.
Rodgers passed for 313 yards with three TDs.
Rodgers lost his first two meetings with the Bengals
Dalton and the Bengals stunned Rodgers and the Packers with 13 unanswered, fourth-quarter points to win 34-30 in Cincinnati in September 2013.
The Bengals’ game-winning TD came on a Terence Newman 58-yard fumble return.
Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson and Cedric Benson helped the Bengals to a 31-24 win at Lambeau Field against Rodgers and the Packers in 2009.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Steelers-Bengals Week 7 Thursday night game features Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco
Reporting by Dave Clark, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
