Bengals Rout Falcons 34-17 at Bernabéu as NFL's Record Global Slate Rolls On

Joe Burrow passed for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth, and Ja'Marr Chase caught 10 passes for 155 yards, as the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-17 at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on Sunday, extending Cincinnati's winning streak to four games and giving the NFL's expanding international program one of its better showcases to date.

An announced crowd of 78,660, drawn largely from Spain and the rest of Europe, filled Real Madrid's home stadium for the league's second regular-season game in the city in as many years, a figure confirmed by the league's own official box score. Burrow finished 24 of 29 for 271 yards with no interceptions and added a short rushing score, in what he had said beforehand would be his first competitive game outside the United States.

Cincinnati improved to 6-2 and has now scored at least 30 points in four consecutive games, matching a stretch the franchise last managed in 1997. Atlanta fell to 3-6 with its second straight loss, a result that leaves the Falcons searching for answers at the season's midpoint and outside playoff position in the NFC South.

Chase accounted for 142 of his 155 yards in the first half alone and caught a touchdown pass, while Tee Higgins added two scoring catches on five receptions. Atlanta's Bijan Robinson ran for 100 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries and caught six passes for 47 more yards, and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. threw for 162 yards with a touchdown and an interception while also running for 50 yards on three scrambles. The box score, independently tracked by CBS Sports, matched figures distributed by the league after the game.

A record season of road games

The Bengals-Falcons game was the seventh of a record nine games the NFL scheduled outside the United States this year, a slate that has already sent teams to Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, London and Paris this fall. Two international games remain: the New England Patriots face the Detroit Lions in Munich on November 15, and the season's international calendar closes when the Minnesota Vikings meet the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City on November 22.

Madrid hosted its first regular-season NFL game last November, when the Miami Dolphins beat the Washington Commanders in overtime before a crowd of 78,610. Sunday's attendance edged that total, and the Bernabéu — which is also scheduled to host matches during next summer's World Cup — sold out for American football for a second straight year.

For the Bengals, the trip carried its own, smaller piece of history. The franchise had played only twice before outside the United States, tying Washington in London in 2016 and losing to the Los Angeles Rams there in 2019. Sunday's win, which the team had promoted for months as a landmark trip for the franchise, was Cincinnati's first in three all-time games played abroad.

Before kickoff, players, coaches and fans observed a moment of silence for the 69 people killed when two high-speed trains collided near Urda, in central Spain, on October 28. Spanish authorities have said the crash involved a signaling failure and remains under investigation.

Burrow's case, and Atlanta's search for answers

Burrow's performance extended a hot stretch that began well before he left the country. He entered the week leading the NFL with 20 touchdown passes and had thrown for more than 400 yards twice already this season, including a 462-yard, five-touchdown outing the previous week in an overtime win over Tennessee. Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor was asked afterward to assess his quarterback's form, as CBS's Atlanta affiliate reported from the stadium.

"Joe's playing at an unbelievably high level right now," Taylor said.

Chase, who has topped 140 receiving yards in a game for the Bengals several times this season, called his Madrid outing "one of my best performances." The win kept Cincinnati a game behind Pittsburgh in the AFC North ahead of a direct meeting between the two teams next week, with a victory there enough to pull the Bengals level atop the division.

Atlanta's locker room had a different tone. Stefanski, whose team had thrown four interceptions in a shutout loss at Tampa Bay the week before traveling to Spain, did not soften his assessment of the latest defeat, telling reporters, "We were not good enough. We have to do better."

The loss means the Falcons have dropped four of their last five games after opening the season with modest promise. Robinson's workload has grown as Atlanta's passing game has sputtered, and Penix's turnovers — four in the Tampa Bay game and another in Madrid — have become a recurring concern for a team that entered the season with higher expectations than a sub-.500 record at the midway point. Edge rusher James Pearce Jr., back from an eight-game suspension, played a limited role because of a back issue, leaving Atlanta's pass rush shorthanded against Burrow for most of the afternoon.

What's next

Both teams now return to the United States for the balance of their schedules. Cincinnati hosts Pittsburgh in a Sunday night game on November 15 that will have direct bearing on the AFC North race, while Atlanta is scheduled to host Kansas City the same week as it tries to arrest its slide and salvage a season that began with higher ambitions.

The league's international push, meanwhile, keeps expanding. NFL officials have repeatedly pointed to sellout crowds in cities such as Madrid, London and Munich as evidence that games played abroad can draw audiences comparable to a typical Sunday at home — a case the league is expected to make again as it finalizes schedules for an international slate that could grow further in future seasons. For now, Sunday's result stands as one more data point in that argument: a full stadium an ocean away from either team's home market, decided in the end by the same things that decide most NFL games, a hot quarterback and a defense that could not get off the field.