The Bengals saw the transaction early and often Thursday on the cafeteria TVs, as well as the one in the equipment room.

The 1-6 Titans, reeling all season on and off the field, traded their best player and top sacker when they dealt perennial Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons to the Bears two days before they arrive for Sunday's game (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Local 12) at Paycor Stadium.

Center and captain Ted Karras joked that there went three hours of study Wednesday night. But no one was laughing. Not with the Bengals just four days removed from a backup quarterback coming within 30 minutes of crippling their season in Baltimore,

"It's the NFL. Everyone spends the same amount of money and gets draft picks," tight end Mike Gesicki said after Thursday's practice. "You better be ready to go."

Karras figures the defensive line is every team's strong suit ("That's why 15 defensive linemen go in the first round every year"), and he ticks off players that still make Tennessee a salty front: veteran defensive tackle John Franklin-Myers (reported to be a Bengals target in free agency) and former No. 3 pick Solomon Thomas. Also inside is Nazir Stackhouse, a Packers undrafted free agent in his second season who has played well in Tennessee.

"If you let it happen, yes," said Karras when asked if there are such things as trap games in the NFL. "I'm out here bleeding on a Thursday to win this ballgame. We have to take a deeper look and anticipate how they'll play without him."

The Bengals figured out how to handle Simmons well enough to win four of the five games they played him. That included the 19-16 AFC Divisional win in 2021 despite Simmons sacking quarterback Joe Burrow three times. In the four regular-season games, Simmons has only half a sack. Of his 19 tackles, three went for loss, to go with five quarterback hits.

"He's arguably up there with all of the top guys," said Bengals head coach Zac Taylor just Wednesday. "I hate to rank a No. 1. He's the opponent this week. He's really good. He gets off the ball. He's really difficult in one-on-one situations and double-team situations. Really good against the run. Good against the pass. If you're not planning for him, you'll have some problems."

Well, they're not planning for him now, but the Bengals are trying to avoid coming out flat like they did last Sunday.

"I'm not going to sit here and act like it hasn't happened. But I'm a bad guy to ask," said right guard Dalton Risner. "I'm a next guy up. Jeffrey Simmons isn't the only good football player on that team. They have  John Franklin-Myers and Solomon Thomas, who I think  are playing at a really high level. Stackhouse has come in and played good football. Jefrey Simmons is one of the best in the game. I've played him before and came away with a lot of respect for him. I really hope it doesn't make this become about Jeffrey Simmons leaving because those other guys are good. We can't fall into that."

Slants and Screens

Speaking of another perennial Pro Bowl defensive tackle who brought plenty on the trade market, Dexter Lawrence II after Thursday's practice recalled the words of his college coach at Clemson, Dabo Swinney.

"November is what they remember," said Lawrence, who didn't have to say that Sunday is Nov. 1.

November begins what has historically been a good stretch for the Bengals. In the last five seasons in November, December and January games at Paycor (including two Wild Card wins), the Bengals are 17-10 …

"We've got to set ourselves up. This is the stretch of the season to take control. We've got to go," said Karras as the Bengals try to get to 5-2 on a day the 5-2 Steelers and 5-2 Browns duel. "Thank God we've got two division teams playing each other." …

Another Karras note on the Simmons trade: "Joe Thuney has to block him in practice now," he said of his good buddy on the Bears …

As left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., met a media scrum Thursday, right tackle Amarius Mims grabbed Karras' shampoo bottle and used it as a microphone to ask Brown about his post-game tweet, "Bury me a Bengal."

"Pretty self-explanatory," said Brown, and Mims suggested he'd like to join him.

"I like that idea. Right there in the middle of Paycor underneath all that turf. I like that." Brown said.

So did Mims.

"No. 75 and 71," he said …

Wide receiver Andrei Iosivas is due to come off injured reserve after his thumb surgery, but it sounds like they're shooting for the Nov. 15 Sunday night game against the Steelers at Paycor.

"It's going to come down to how much pain I can tolerate, and I can tolerate a lot," Iosivas said. "I just don't want to think about it while I'm attacking the ball. It's getting better." …

With the entire training staff headed to Madrid Tuesday for the Falcons game, so is Iosivas as he continues his rehab. The man dubbed "The Romanian Rocket," in high school, whose father grew up in Romania, is planning to re-unite with his Romanian cousins during the trip. "I haven't seen them in eight years," he said …

Karras is already packing for the trip and has purchased a soft light to do his reading on the plane so he doesn't bother people with the overhead light during what amounts to an eight-hour redeye leaving Tuesday night …