Is Tee Higgins playing today? Injury update for Bengals WR ahead of Week 8 vs. Eagles

The Cincinnati Bengals had finally seemed to figure things out over the past couple of weeks, notching wins over the New York Giants and the Cleveland Browns to get back to 3-4 and put themselves squarely in the mix for an AFC Wild Card spot. The defense was showing at least some signs of life (although playing Daniel Jones, Deshaun Watson and Dorian Thompson-Robinson certainly helps on that front), while Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins had Cincy's passing game looking like it was 2021 all over again. A Week 8 showdown with the Philadelphia Eagles served as a chance to put the rest of the conference on notice for the second half of the season.

Now, though, Cincy is going to have its work cut out for it to get back to .500. Higgins was added to the injury report late this week with a right quad injury that the wideout suffered in practice. The Bengals were still hoping that he could go on Sunday, listing him as questionable, but that appears to be officially off the table.

Is Tee Higgins playing today? Latest injury update on Bengals star WR

The latest update on Higgins isn't what Bengals fans want to hear: Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Clemson product is inactive for Sunday's game against Philly.

It's hard to overstate how big a loss this is for Burrow and this Cincinnati offense. Chase justifiably draws most of the headlines, but it's not a coincidence that the Bengals' recent uptick in play coincided with Higgins' return to the lineup after missing the first two games of the season. Higgins gives Burrow a big, classic X receiver to target on intermediate throws over the middle of the field, an ideal compliment to Chase's field-stretching abilities. He'd also been excellent of late, averaging just a tick over 75 yards a game over the last four with three touchdowns in that span.

The cupboard isn't bare, but gives like Andrei Iosivas and Mike Gesicki simply can't replicate Higgins' production or strike the same fear into the hearts of opposing defenses. The Bengals defense figures to struggle against a powerful Philly rushing attack, and it'll now be a whole lot harder for Cincy to keep pace on the scoreboard. Which could put their playoff hopes back on life support: The team has done well to pick itself off the deck after a tough start, but that start also removed almost all of its margin for error moving forward. The Bengals simply can't afford too many more losses, and it couldn't afford to lose Higgins.