What an ugly game under the bright lights.
This is what needed to happen on Monday Night Football in Week 3:
The Cincinnati Bengals, their backs against the wall, came out and played well on both sides of the ball, defeated a surprisingly tough Commanders team in a shootout, and got their first notch in the win column, taking their first step in the right direction in 2024.
This is what did happen:
The Cincinnati Bengals got thoroughly dominated by a less-talented team led by a less-experienced quarterback and are now 0-3 and face the daunting task of being the first team since 2018 and the seventh team since the merger to get to the playoffs after starting 0-3.
They’re having their moment with Galadriel’s mirror, and now they’re truly on the edge of a knife…
“The quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail to the ruin of all.”
It’s only Week 4, and the Bengals already got me quoting prophecies about Dark Lords.
Here are some immediate reactions:
- The defense was epically bad. Daniels was barely pressured and was able to sit in the pocket and pick apart the Bengals’ secondary. The Bengals paid extra attention to the Commanders’ running game, allowing only 3.4 yards per carry, but it was the Jayden-Daniels Show. Joe Burrow had a solid game but was completely outshined.
- Ja’Marr Chase benefits so much from Tee Higgins being on the field. He was given some one-on-one looks and he and Burrow made the Commanders pay for it.
- The Bengals ran the ball well when they had the time to do so. Zack Moss averaged 4.8 yards per carry on 12 attempts, and Chase Brown averaged 8.9 yards on seven carries. Brown is clearly much more involved in the offense this week, which is good to see.
- Trent Brown going down with a non-contact injury and being carted off the field doesn’t look good for the veteran right tackle. It’s the Amarius Mims show from here on out.
- Trenton Irwin was inactive on Monday night, and I figured that would mean we’d see more Jermaine Burton, but no. The only wide receiver to catch a pass other than Chase and Higgins was Andrei Iosivas.
- The Bengals defense had gone with a bend-but-don’t-break approach so far this season, but they broke over and over and over on Monday.
- I would prefer to not hear Cam Taylor-Britt talk about how an opposing quarterback isn’t asked to do much from here on out.
- I won’t blame refs, but that non call on the DPI in the end zone during the Bengals’ two-point attempt was terrible. It wouldn’t have mattered, but still.
- This game reminded me so much of the Andy Dalton-Marvin Lewis led Bengals teams in prime time games in the 2010’s.
- There were no punts, which is a weird thing to happen. This was actually the first game since 1940 with no turnovers or punts.
- It’s clear the idea on defense was to keep Daniels in the pocket. The Bengals dared him to beat them with his arm, and it was clear he was up to the task.
- It was good seeing Higgins back on the field.
- This is how bad the defense was on Monday: The Bengals scored, or had a shot at scoring, on every single drive. The only points left on the field were from a missed field-goal. That being the case, they still lost by five.
- The Bengals losing Jessie Bates came back to bite them hard in 2023. It looks like losing DJ Reader is going to be what bites them hard this season.
- Mims got beat a couple times tonight, but he moves like a natural athlete. Guys that big shouldn’t move like that. I think he has a ton of potential to be a great offensive tackle in the league.
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Here’s are some good things to focus on (trying to stay positive):
- The Bengals defense front is decimated by injuries. If they were playing this way at full strength, it would be so much worse.
- The offense is awake.
- The Bengals have yet to play a division rival, and with the Browns and Ravens just one game ahead of them, the AFC North is still winnable.
- Even if the AFC North gets away from the Bengals, going 10-4 the rest of the way isn’t out of the realm of possibility. 10-7 gives them a shot at a wildcard spot.
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There’s not much left to say. The Bengals are in desperation mode now, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them as road underdogs against an Andy Dalton-led Carolina Panthers team in Week 4.
That wasn’t a sentence I expected to write this season.
Relevant Song Lyrics:
Well, a hush fell over the pool room
Jimmy come boppin’ in off the street
And when the cuttin’ were done
The only part that wasn’t bloody
Was the soles of the big man’s feet.
