Packers overcome Flacco's comeback attempt and beat the Bengals 27-18

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — This time, the Green Bay Packers built a double-digit lead and finished the job.

Josh Jacobs and Lucas Havrisik helped close it out.

Jacobs overcame an illness to rush for two touchdowns, and the Packers held off Cincinnati for a 27-18 victory in Joe Flacco’s Bengals debut on Sunday.

Havrisik sealed the win by making the second of his two field goals, a 39-yarder with 1:52 remaining. He also kicked a 43-yarder a day after signing with the Packers because Brandon McManus had injured his quadriceps.

“I feel a sense of relief right now,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “We always try to take it one game at a time. The bottom line is you've got to find a way to win the game. And you see each and every week around the league, a lot of these games are going down to the wire.”

While LaFleur was relieved, Jacobs was a little queasy.

The Pro Bowl running back said he vomited a couple times during the game while battling the flu, but he had a 3-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and opened the fourth by scoring on a 14-yard burst up the middle.

“I just kind of woke up this morning just not feeling my best," said Jacobs, who rushed for 93 yards on 18 carries. "But I told them, the last time that I felt that way, I had 130 (yards) and two touchdowns. So it is what it is.”

Green Bay's Jordan Love was 19 of 26 for 259 yards with an interception and a 19-yard touchdown pass to Tucker Kraft.

The Packers (3-1-1) returned from a bye week and bounced back after squandering a 10-0 lead in a 13-10 loss at Cleveland and a 13-0 advantage in a 40-40 tie with Dallas.

Flacco was Cleveland’s quarterback in that victory over the Packers three weeks ago. He was acquired by Cincinnati (2-4) on Tuesday.

The 40-year-old Flacco was 29 of 45 for 219 yards and two touchdowns, but he couldn't quite dig his sixth NFL team all the way out of a 10-0 halftime deficit. The Bengals lost their fourth consecutive game.

“We gave ourselves a chance down at the end, and we did some good things, but just not enough," Flacco said.

Flacco became the eighth quarterback since at least 1950 to start against the same opponent twice in a season while playing for two different teams. The only quarterback to win both games in that scenario was Jack Kemp, who guided the AFL’s Buffalo Bills and San Diego Chargers past the New York Titans in 1962.

After Green Bay had dominated most of the way, Cincinnati cut the Packers' lead to 24-18 with 4:11 to go. Flacco threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase on a fourth-and-5 play, then connected with Chase Brown on a 2-point conversion.

But the Packers responded with Havrisik’s second field goal in his first NFL game since a 2023 stint with the Los Angeles Rams. He had considered getting a part-time job as he struggled to find NFL kicking opportunities.

“I’ve done substitute teaching in the past and coaching,” Havrisik said. "I moved to Cleveland recently, and I was like, ‘I’ve got to get outside, do something.’ I can’t sit down all day. Very happy to be here and play some football.”

Cincinnati’s final hope vanished when Evan McPherson was wide right on a 56-yard attempt with 41 seconds left. McPherson also made a 45-yard field goal and was well short on what would have been an NFL-record 67-yarder to end the first half.

The Bengals were outgained 240-65 in the first half, marking the fourth straight game in which they failed to reach the end zone before halftime.

Cincinnati got back into the game by opening the second half with a 17-play, 78-yard touchdown drive that lasted 10 minutes, 14 seconds. On fourth-and-goal, Flacco threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Tanner Hudson, who entered Sunday’s game without any catches all season.

Jacobs’ second touchdown made it 17-7. Cincinnati cut the lead to 17-10 with 10:43 left before Love and Kraft connected for Green Bay’s longest touchdown completion of the season.

Kraft caught the ball a couple of yards beyond the line of scrimmage, shed a tackle and lowered his shoulder to get through cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt and land in the right corner of the end zone.

“I think the ultimate goal is just going 1-0,” Love said. “It’s going to be some ugly games. Not every game is going to be pretty, it’s not going to be a blowout every time, so you just gotta find ways to win these tight ones.”

Bengals: TE Mike Gesicki (pectoral) and DE Trey Hendrickson (back bruise) both left the game.

Packers: DE Lukas Van Ness was carted into the locker room with a foot injury in the third quarter. WR Dontayvion Wicks hurt his ankle. S Javon Bullard was evaluated for a concussion.

“I know he’s going to get an MRI tomorrow,” LaFleur said about Van Ness. "I know he’s sore in his foot, but I don’t believe there was anything broken or anything like that, so we’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on tomorrow.”

Bengals: Host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday

Packers: Visit the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Green Bay Packers' Matthew Golden (0) runs after a catch aqgainst Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Josh Newton (28) in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Romeo Doubs (87) works for a catch against Cincinnati Bengals cornerback DJ Turner II (20) in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tanner Hudson (87) makes a touchdown catch against Green Bay Packers linebacker Quay Walker (7) in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) celebrates his touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) scores a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Two days after a deadly UPS plane disaster, a candlelight vigil was held Thursday in Louisville, Kentucky, to remember the victims and thank first responders, while teams still worked to find or identify people caught in the crash and subsequent firestorm.

“Our hope is that we have located all of the victims at this point. But again, we do not know,” Mayor Craig Greenberg said earlier in the day.

The inferno destroyed the enormous plane and spread to nearby businesses, killing at least 13 people, including a child and three UPS crew on the cargo hauler. No one expects to find survivors in the crash at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub.

The plane had been cleared for takeoff Tuesday when a large fire developed in the left wing and an engine fell off, said Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.

Meanwhile, UPS Worldport operations resumed Wednesday night with its Next Day Air, or night sort, operation, spokesperson Jim Mayer said.

“Our goal is to begin returning the network to a normal cadence," Mayer said.

Teamsters Local 89, which represents UPS workers, hosted a candlelight vigil, which began with a moment of silence at 5:14 p.m., the approximate time of the crash two days earlier.

“This incident was so sudden, so unexpected," the mayor told the crowd of 200. “No one had a chance to say goodbye to any of those who we have lost.”

Greenberg disclosed that the death toll had risen to 13. UPS, meanwhile, released the names of three people who died in the plane: Capt. Richard Wartenberg, First Officer Lee Truitt and International Relief Officer Capt. Dana Diamond, all members of the Independent Pilots Association.

Bob Travis, a UPS pilot and the union’s president, expressed gratitude for the work of emergency responders, public officials and the community.

“Everybody’s seen the video,” he said of the crash. “It’s hard not to.”

Earlier Thursday, Greenberg described the crash site as “horrific,” with “charred, mangled metal.” Part of the plane's tail, he said, appeared to be sticking out of a storage silo.

“You hear people say, ‘Oh, you only see that in the movies.’ This was worse than the movies,” Greenberg told reporters.

The plane's last data recordings showed it had reached an altitude of 475 feet (145 meters) and a speed of 210 mph (340 kph) before crashing just outside Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Inman said Thursday.

The engine's main component and pieces of engine fan blades were recovered from the airfield. Inman said UPS indicated that no maintenance work was performed before the flight “that would delay it in any way." He noted that investigators will look at video to see what, if anything, was being done around the MD-11 aircraft in preceding days.

The UPS package handling facility in Louisville is the company’s largest. The hub employs more than 20,000 people in the region, handles 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour.

The crash and explosion caused even more blasts and destruction at businesses in an industrial corridor just outside the airport.

Sabit Aliyev, the owner of Kentucky Truck Parts and Service, still doesn't know if his business is standing. He said he was inside the shop Tuesday when the burning plane passed by, followed by an explosion. He went outside and recorded what sounded like another explosion.

“It was like hell,” Aliyev said. “There was fire all over. It was sky high.”

He and his workers fled over vacant land but were suddenly trapped by a high security fence until a police officer used bolt cutters to cut open a gate.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said a number of things could have caused the fire as the 34-year-old plane was rolling down the runway.

“It could have been the engine partially coming off and ripping out fuel lines. Or it could have been a fuel leak igniting and then burning the engine off,” Guzzetti said.

Flight records show the UPS plane was on the ground in San Antonio from Sept. 3 to Oct. 18, but it was unclear what maintenance was performed.

“We will look at every piece of maintenance done, from the San Antonio time all the way to the date of the flight. ... It's going to be a laborious process," Inman of the NTSB said.

He said there was no reason to take any immediate safety actions against other MD-11 planes in service.

Associated Press writers John Raby in Cross Lanes, West Virginia; Ed White in Detroit; Travis Loller in Nashville, Tennessee; and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed.

UPS jets are parked at the Worldport package sorting complex at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

A plume of smoke rises from the site of a UPS cargo plane crash at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg speaks about the crash of UPS Flight 2976 at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Louisville, Ky.. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

CORRECTS FLIGHT NUMBER Mayor Craig Greenberg speaks at Louisville Regional Airport Authority about the crash of UPS Flight 2976 at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Plumes of smoke rise from the area of a UPS cargo plane crash at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

CORRECTS FLIGHT NUMBER The ATC tower is seen while smoke rises from the crash site of UPS Flight 2976 near Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)