Philadelphia Eagles unravel against Cincinnati Bengals

• The Bengals capitalized on the Eagles' late turnovers for a 34-13 win on Thursday.
• Cincinnati now controls its destiny for an AFC playoff spot.
• The Eagles have lost 9 of their last 10 games.

PHILADELPHIA – For the better part of three quarters, the Bengals season looked to be slowly slipping away as they put together one of their worst stretches of football and were trailing the Eagles 13-10.

On a night when the offense struggled, leave it to the defense to come up with a nine-minute stretch, which helped take control of the game.

The Bengals scored 17 straight points off turnovers and were able to weather one of their worst games of the year to post a 34-13 win over the Eagles in the final Thursday Night game of the year.

All but three of the Bengals points were set up by five Eagles turnovers. The other three points were the result of a blocked punt.

"Sometimes it's the offense, sometimes it's the defense. We were able to have the defense pick us up in the second half," head coach Marvin Lewis said. "We knew we had to make plays in the second half and have things to clean up. We can't have the penalties and the things we had today."

With the win, which is their fifth in the last six games, the Bengals go to 8-6 and at worst will be tied with the Steelers when they meet on Dec. 23 at Heinz Field. If Pittsburgh loses to Dallas on Sunday and the Jets lose to Tennessee on Monday night, the Bengals can wrap up a playoff spot with a win.

The victory was also the Bengals fifth in seven road games this year. After going 1-7 on the road two years ago, Cincinnati has wrapped up back-to-back winning records on the road for the first time since 1975-76. It is also their sixth win in their last seven against an NFC team.

It also ends a run of nine straight losses in prime time games by the Bengals.

Trailing by three, Leon Hall helped the Bengals regain momentum when he picked off a badly underthrown Nick Foles pass and returned it to the Eagles 40. Eight plays later, Andy Dalton scrambled 11-yards up the middle to put the Bengals in the lead for good with a minute, 10 seconds remaining in the third.

Two plays after that, Pat Sims forced a fumble on a Bryce Brown carry and Wallace Gilberry returned it 25 yards to make it 24-13. A Clay Harbor fumble would set up a Josh Brown 32-yard field goal and A.J. Green would score a 5-yard touchdown after Moeller grad Matt Tennant fumbled a short kickoff.

On a night when Dalton completed only 12 of 26 for 114 yards, BenJarvus Green-Ellis got his fourth 100-yard game in the past five with 106 yards on 25 carries. On one of the offensive line's worst games in a long time, Dalton was sacked six times, which tied a season high, and often didn't have a clean pocket.

The Bengals were also called for a season-high 11 penalties for 94 yards.

"We didn't play well especially offensively early on. We knew we had to stay the course and make one play here and there," Dalton said. "It was ugly early on but we were able to get the win."

Green-Ellis went over 1,000 yards for the season on his first carry of the night, which went for 29 yards. Five plays later he went up the middle for a 1-yard touchdown.

The Green-Ellis touchdown was set up when Carlos Dunlap forced a fumble on a Nick Foles completion to Jeremy Maclin, which was recovered by Domata Peko.

After a Daniel Herron blocked punt, which was recovered at the Eagles 12, Brown would kick a 24-yard field goal to make it 10-0.

The Eagles would storm back through with 13 unanswered points in the second quarter. Riley Cooper caught an 11-yard touchdown from Foles to put the Eagles on the board and Alex Henery kicked a pair of field goals off a pair of Dalton fumbles when he was sacked.

"It mirrored some of our third quarters. At halftime we were able to keep things together," Lewis said.

Foles was 16 of 33 for 182 yards and Brown had just 34 yards on 16 carries for the Eagles, who fall to 4-10.

The Bengals now have the next three days off before preparations for the Steelers begin. It will be the most important Steelers-Bengals game since 2005, when the Bengals were able to win at Heinz Field en route to winning the AFC North.

"We're in control of everything. That's how you want to have it. We've got two big games the next two weeks, a lot is left to be decided," Dalton said.

Reedy writes for The Cincinnati Enquirer.