As good as QB Justin Fields was on Sunday at Cincinnati -- and he played a superlative, near-perfect game -- it was truly a symphony, a perfect blend of passing and rushing by an inspired Jets offense. There was so much to celebrate and so much relief, but ultimately the injury-riddled Green & White erased on 0-fer start to the season and rallied to tame the Bengals, 39-38, scoring 23 points in the fourth quarter -- after 5 losses by 7 points or fewer. The Jets' first win of the season was also the first as the head man for HC Aaron Glenn, and it came without injured WR Garrett Wilson and CB Sauce Gardner.

The deeply religious and spiritual Fields has been stoic and self-confident in the face of a disappointing start to his first season with the Jets, a period punctuated by a concussion in Week 2 against Buffalo and a benching in last week's loss to Carolina. In a week where Glenn played his cards close on who would start, Fields or veteran Tyrod Taylor, the decision was made for him when Taylor told the coach he could not go because of a knee injury.

"I've said this on a number of occasions, that who he [Fields] is as a person, his faith and the way that he goes about the business like he was, he was primed to be able to do something.," Glenn said after the game. "He's primed to be able to handle situations like this, and it's so unfair to him, it really is, that he gets criticized so much.

"But on the other hand, I told him, being a top pick [No. 11 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft], being a quarterback, especially in the New York area, man, criticism, responsibility, expectation, all those things follow you. So handle it. Some of it is unwarranted. I would say that some of it's unwarranted, but we understand, we understand a lot has to go a bit when we were O and seven. So he's a perfect person to handle everything that's been thrown at him. And he's a special person, a special person."

Fields grabbed the opportunity to start and showed his steely mettle as he led the offense, completing a tidy 21-of-32 passes for 248 net yards and a TD (on 15-yard, fourth-down strike to Tyler Johnson; their first offensive TD in the first half since Week 1), without a turnover and without being sacked (he had already been sacked 22 times this season). The offense rolled up 502 total yards, including 254 net rushing yards.

Speaking with reporters, Fields was clearly emotional, thankful for the victory, thankful for a performance that quiets the outside noise and thankful to a higher power.

"I'm getting pretty vulnerable right here, but this week, I kind of found myself in my closet crying on the ground, laying down, not because of the hardships, not because of the troubles," Fields said. "I felt like I was built to handle that, and I was put in place to handle this situation, but in that moment when I was talking to my best friend [who he said he's known since eighth grade] how hard it was, and just not wavering faith-wise. I just had gotten a text from my sister and my stepmom, and it was just an encouraging text on ... just keep going and keep spreading the faith."

The fourth quarter opened with the Jets holding the ball and trailing, 31-16. Breece Hall, who rushed for a game-high 133 yards, 2 rushing TDs and added even a passing TD to Mason Taylor that tied the game at 38-38, scored from 5 yards out. On the 2-point conversion to get the Jets within a TD, Fields eluded a Bengals' rush, tucked the ball under his forearm and rambled in to make the score 31-24 with 14:21 to play.

But when the defense needed to make a stop, Cincinnati drove down the field to a TD and a 14-point edge, 38-24, running the ball on seven straight plays before Chase Brown scored. There were only so many times the Jets could climb back up the mountain. And up they went again.

Facing fourth-and-1 from the Jets' 49 on the next series, Fields calmly connected with TD Jeremy Ruckert for 24 yards to the Bengals' 27 before Hall rambled 27 yards for the TD. Fields then hit Isaiah Davis (7 runs for 65 yards, including a 50-yard scamper up the sideline) with the 2-point conversion, cutting the deficit to 6 points, 38-32.

With 6:50 to play, Fields led the Jets on a 9-play, 58-yard drive that ate up 4:58 and ended when Hall took a pitch from Fields and ran right. After drawing the defense toward him, Hall lobbed a pass to a leaping Taylor, whose defender DJ Turner II had his back to the play. Nick Folk added the winning PAT.

Edge Jermaine Johnson praised the offense for its resilience and refusal to quit.

"It wasn't a great performance at all," Johnson said about the defense. "So we were just thankful that they [the offense] kept bailing us out. And we knew when it came down that final drive, we had to step up. You know, got to make a stand sometime."

Ruckert, one of Fields' teammates at Ohio State, said: "I mean, he's the ultimate professional. Obviously, I've known him for a lot longer than most people. He shows up to work the same guy every day. He's got great faith in himself and his beliefs. You know he doesn't let circumstances define his reality. He came out here today and played his [expletive] off. And you could feel that on the field with his confidence."

Fields put the game in perspective: "The biggest thing was the win. Not for me, but for my brothers in that locker room. For the coaches, for everybody that puts in work. I'm glad we were able to do that. I'm glad we were able to come out and leave here with the W."

He added: "It wasn't necessarily the football stuff. It was more so on a spiritual level."