CINCINNATI — The moment Tee Higgins caught Joe Burrow’s game-winning 3-yard touchdown pass in overtime, he threw his third touchdown reception high into the air in a cathartic release.
But for Higgins, surrounded by his teammates and with a confident look and diamonds on his teeth shining through the flashing lights of Paycor Stadium, the moment wasn’t just about Bengals 30, Broncos 24.
No, this moment was about so much more. It was about everything.
“It’s the best feeling ever,” Higgins said.
GO DEEPER
Burrow keeps Bengals’ playoff hopes alive in wild 30-24 OT win over Broncos: Takeaways
This sentiment was about a year in which the Bengals gave him the franchise tag instead of offering him a long-term contract. And instead of complaining, he leaned into the work, showed up on time and dedicated himself to producing a contract year that would prove his worth while making a run for a title.
The feeling was about the inferred devaluation of his skills that accompanied offers to Higgins during every negotiation.
He has spent about five years building a bond and a deep-seated respect among teammates, taking this franchise from the dregs to the top and back down again, building bonds that regularly stir his emotions.
About playing politely in the shadow of Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, one of the great tandems in the NFL, without complaining or selfishly begging for the football.
Joe and Tee did that.@JoeyB @teehiggins5 pic.twitter.com/cw3HFF2p2q
—NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2024
About his conscious decision to avoid drama and the spotlight at almost every turn.
About hearing the words “injury prone” thrown around all year, questioning his toughness and yet playing through knee and ankle injuries when anyone would understand a decision to close it down.
About a city he never expected to grow attached to loving him back, a “Teeee!” singing on cue, as a final chorus cuts through the triumphant pandemonium.
About a game where he walked through the building, through the tunnel and into the franchise world, knowing it might be his last home in Cincinnati.
“Emotions are just everywhere,” said Higgins, feeling reflective after his emphatic declaration of 11 receptions, 131 yards and three touchdowns to the entire NFL. “You don’t know what to feel. It’s a surreal feeling.”
Surreal for everyone. Could this really be it in Cincinnati? The financial figures are challenging, the philosophy is worth debating. At that moment, with smoke from the fireworks still hovering over the celebration, it was surreal indeed to think that this could be the final image for fans of one of the most electric trios in team history.
“I hope not, but that could have been my last match here in the stripes,” he said. “This match meant a lot more to me coming into it. Just walking into the stadium, that’s what I thought. It’s a possibility. You never know what will happen in the future.”
“Who Dey! I love you!” – @teehiggins5 pic.twitter.com/yWktRagrhD
—Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) December 29, 2024
The path to this moment started with a text. With Higgins dealing with knee and ankle injuries, the first meeting of the week on Tuesday included contingency plans in which he was not on the field. Higgins picked up his phone and texted head coach Zac Taylor.
“I was sitting in the back of the room and he texted me, ‘I’m playing,’” Taylor said. “So, you know, it’s early in the week, so I just let those guys get their space, really, to get it right. But he sent a pretty clear message that he saw staff on the screen and said, ‘No, I’m playing.’
There was no way he was going to miss this one. And there was no way the Bengals would win if he did.
At almost every critical spot on Saturday, with the season on the line, Burrow turned to Higgins. As the offense struggled through multiple failed short-yardage and red zone opportunities, it turned to Higgins as a mismatch. Once he got into a final matchup with Ja’Quan McMillian, he immediately shook him in for a 2-yard pitch-and-catch touchdown pass.
While Pat Surtain II slowed Chase, the Bengals sought matchups with Higgins. That included three receptions on three third-down targets.
With the game tied in the fourth quarter, Burrow saw Higgins match up with corner Riley Moss, who he targeted all night, and counted on his man to win. The athletic 6-foot-1 specimen took over with the kind of high-point, toe-drag catching that you just can’t teach.
.@joeyb X @teehiggins5 TOUGHHHH 😤#EasyToCelebrate | @budlicht pic.twitter.com/rOiEIoSHvN
—Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) December 28, 2024
“Everyone can see what kind of player he is,” said Burrow, who declared after the first of those four straight wins that he had a plan to keep himself, Chase and Higgins together for the long term. “He takes us to another level when he plays like that. I’m happy to be part of what we’re doing right now.”
Even when Higgins made a mistake, fumbling in the fourth quarter as Cincinnati again drove into Denver territory, his resilience showed as his best moments would still be ahead of him.
So when the night went haywire from game management debacles to fourth-down heaves and failed game-winning attempts, Burrow and the Bengals were done messing around when the defense gifted them one last chance to save from a 0 -7 record against teams. with winning records.
Get the ball to Higgins.
Burrow was beating the Broncos all night. The move to keep them off balance was overdone. Only, in order to make that throw, you have to have a ball winner in that situation who is able to grab a player from 31 yards over the shoulder and tap his toes to close out the play. A match he would finish a game later.
“I was waiting for the right time to get our shot there,” Burrow said. “What a great catch from Tee. Tee came out big. He was incredible today.”
The owners suite didn’t need any reminding as to why you should just pay the price and keep Higgins, but it certainly got slapped in the face with it on Saturday night. Along with the rapidly rising costs of doing so.
Chase stood ten feet away from Higgins as he spoke into a bevy of microphones after the game, interjecting a simple message: “Pay that man!”
Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. The challenging nature of the decision did not make the reality of the moment any easier.
“I’ve built so many relationships inside the building, outside the building, in the city,” Higgins said, when asked to think about the concept that money could take him somewhere else. ‘It’ll definitely hurt. But there are issues, and if that’s where life takes me, then God’s got me and I’ll just follow His lead.”
He admitted that the emotions of the evening returned as the party progressed. Players so often say that there is no time for reflection during the season. But there was no escape on Saturday evening.
“When I scored the game winner at the end of the game,” he said, smiling and looking into the distance, “I was like, ‘Man, shout out to Cincy.’”
A surreal, emotional conclusion, without a doubt, to a game that was about so much more. A night that might be Higgins’ last, brightest moment in Cincinnati.
“If that’s the case,” he said, “go out with a bang, you know what I mean?”
Everyone knows very clearly what he means.
(Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)