Bengals' Jake Browning blames himself for loss to Lions

CINCINNATI (AP) — For the second time in three seasons, Jake Browning has stepped in for an injured Joe Burrow. But unlike in 2023, things aren't going well.

In Sunday's 37-24 loss to the Detroit Lions, the Bengals' third-year quarterback threw three more interceptions, giving him eight in four games. Browning, who also tossed three second-half touchdown passes, took responsibility for the loss.

“A lot of people in that locker room played winning football today,” Browning said. “I did not. You throw three picks in the NFL, you’re going to lose.”

Burrow had surgery on his injured left toe and is out indefinitely. The Bengals stuck with the backups on their roster instead of trying to acquire a veteran QB.

Browning's backup, Brett Rypien, has 11 career appearances and four starts, three for the Broncos and one for the Rams. For now, the Bengals are sticking with Browning.

At halftime on Sunday, Browning was 14 of 23 for 86 yards and two interceptions, and Bengals coach Zac Taylor heard the boos every time Browning jogged back out with the offense.

“I’m sure a lot of people wanted him on the bench at that point,” Taylor said. “I could hear it. There are some plays he’s going to want to have back. I’m glad he hung in there. I believe he gives us our best chance to win.”

In 2023, Browning took over after Burrow's season-ending wrist injury and completed 70.4% of his passes, going 4-3 as the starter. He threw 12 touchdown passes and seven interceptions.

His eight interceptions this season are the second most in the league, behind Las Vegas' Geno Smith.

“Jake’s taken a lot of adversity for himself and for the team, period,” receiver Ja'Marr Chase said. “I tell him to stay in it, keep his head up. At the end of the day we all have his back and we all need him to be our quarterback. The way he stayed in the game and kept fighting, that’s what we need.”

Browning finished 26 of 40 for 251 yards on Sunday. But two of his three picks came during another dismal first half for the Bengals, who have been outscored 69-9 before halftime in their last three games.

“I put that on myself,” Taylor said. “I call the plays. I've got to keep us out of danger. We’ve scored three points three weeks in a row in the first half. That’s my responsibility to score more points.”

Browning said it comes down to him making better decisions with the ball and not trying to force throws.

“Everybody’s been very supportive, but at the end of the day this is a results business and I need to play better,” Browning said. “I threw three picks that were bad. There’s no hiding from that. Bad decisions. Bad ball placement. That’s on me.”

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Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning (6) runs the ball against the Detroit Lions during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) is brought down by Cincinnati Bengals defenders during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning talks with the media after an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Detroit Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes (55) sacks Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning (6) for a safety during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation helped galvanize opposition to President Donald Trump's immigration policies, was thrown out Friday.

Abrego Garcia's deportation to El Salvador last year became an embarrassment for Trump officials when they were ordered to return him to the U.S. Abrego Garcia claimed that both the timing of the criminal charges and inflammatory statements about him by top Trump officials demonstrated that the prosecution was vindictive.

U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, ruling from Nashville, granted Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss for “selective or vindictive prosecution.”

The ruling amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of a Justice Department that under President Donald Trump has repeatedly been accused of targeting defendants for political purposes. The Trump administration touted the charges against Abrego Garcia last year at a press conference in which then-Attorney General Pam Bondi declared, “This is what American justice looks like.”

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a victim of a politicized, vindictive White House and its lawyers at what used to be an independent Justice Department," his criminal defense attorneys said in a statement after Friday's ruling. "We are so pleased that he is a free man."

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Without Abrego Garcia’s “successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the government would not have brought this prosecution,” said Crenshaw, dismissing claims of “new evidence” against him.

Crenshaw stopped short of finding the government acted with “actual vindictiveness,” a rarely-met standard that usually requires evidence like a prosecutor admitting that charges were filed in retaliation against someone. But the judge did find there was enough evidence of “presumptive vindictiveness” — including the timing of the indictment, statements made by then-U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and the sustained oversight of the case by other top Justice Department officials — that the case against Abrego Garcia was thoroughly tainted.

The government’s own explanations weren’t convincing, Crenshaw wrote.

Abrego Garcia was charged with human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling, with prosecutors claiming that he accepted money to transport within the United States people who were in the country illegally.

The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.

In the Friday ruling, Crenshaw wrote that the timing of the charges was central to the presumption of vindictiveness. Homeland Security had been aware of the traffic stop for two years and had closed the case against Abrego Garcia when it deported him. Once the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he should be brought back to the U.S., they reopened the case. While the government bore the responsibility to rebut the presumption of vindictiveness, prosecutors did not call as a witness the person who reopened the case, to explain why. Instead they offered only “secondhand testimony.”

Abrego Garcia's deportation violated a 2019 immigration court order granting him protection from deportation to his home country, after the judge found he faced danger there from a gang that targeted his family. Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child who has lived in Maryland for years although he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. The 2019 order allowed him to live and work in the U.S. under Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervision, but he was not given residency status.

Meanwhile, Trump administration officials have said Abrego Garcia cannot remain in the U.S. They have vowed to deport him to a third country, most recently Liberia.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his wife, center, hold hands as people rally in support of him at a news conference outside federal court after a hearing in his case on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Greenbelt, Md. (AP Photo/Michael Kunzelman)