Following Sunday’s 22–18 road win over the Patriots, the Bengals encountered a frightening, unexpected interruption on their flight back to Cincinnati.
The team’s plane from Boston was reportedly re-routed due to a “failing engine,” according to Mark Slaughter of Cincinnati’s WLWT-NBC. The Athletic’s Paul Dehner later confirmed the incident resulted in the flight making an emergency landing at JFK International Airport in New York City to allow the team to switch planes.
“A little rough but it was okay! Landed safely,” said an unidentified passenger on the flight, per Slaughter.
WLWT also reported Cincinnati’s flight landed at JFK around 8:45 p.m. local time, with the new flight reportedly departing NYC around 9:30 p.m.
Although the emergency diversion added quite a scare to the day, Saturday was an otherwise positive day for the Bengals as the club notched its eighth consecutive win in a close victory over an old AFC foe.
With an eventful Christmas Eve now behind them, the Bengals (11–4) will get to enjoy Christmas and a much-needed Sunday off before bringing in the new year with a huge Monday Night Football matchup against the Bills (12–3) on Jan. 2.
