2 winners and 7 losers from Bengals’ home debacle vs. Eagles

What once looked like a promising afternoon quickly turned to doom for the Bengals. The coaches are coming under major scrutiny.

After a promising start, the Cincinnati Bengals came crashing back to reality on Sunday, taking a 37-17 loss at home to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Bengals now have an uphill climb to get into realistic playoff consideration and a 0-4 home record to boot.

Here are the best and worst from Sunday versus Philadelphia:

Winners

Jermaine Burton

The rookie wideout has been in the coaches’ doghouse this year, but every time they call his number, even on limited snaps and route concepts, he provides a spark. He had a 41-yard reception once again on Sunday, so it’s probably time to get him more than a handful of snaps a game.

Mike Gesicki

A big reason why the Bengals were even in this one for three quarters was Gesicki stepping up in a big way, including a one-handed sideline grab on third down to extend a drive. He finished the game with team-highs in catches (seven) and receiving yards (73).

Losers

Zac Taylor

The Bengals’ head coach faced not only another midseason “must-win game” but a barometer test against a quality opponent. The first 14 minutes was a solid go of it, but a toxic mixture of bad play calls, a lack of capturing the game in clutch moments, and a porous defense ruined what looked like a promising afternoon at the onset.

In a critical moment of the game in the second half, Cincinnati was trailing by seven after the defense let up three consecutive touchdown drives, the offense dialed up a predictable short-yardage run by Zack Moss that netted a minus half-yard and then decided to go for it deep in their own territory, which reeked of desperation. Taylor and Co. dialed up an Uber predictable out route in the flat to Ja’Marr Chase that failed to convert. It led to an avalanche by the Eagles in a runaway win.

We are kind of back to the later days of the Marvin Lewis era wherein the masses were talking about the team taking on the persona of its coach. The exuberance seems to be gone, as is the clutch gene, and this team appears to be pressing. The bottom line is that wins and losses come down to the head coach and it’s going to take a monumental comeback by the team to make the postseason at this point.

Lou Anarumo

It appears the last couple of weeks were fool’s gold. After netting wins against Carolina, New York, and Cleveland, respectively, the Bengals came crashing down to reality against a team with a quality offense.

After letting up just a field goal in the first 14 game minutes, the defense let up a crushing three consecutive touchdown drives in and out of the half, that ended up spelling doom for the defense.

The offense and special teams didn’t do them many favors after the first opening drive, but letting up 37 at home usually means disaster.

Evan McPherson

While it’s a tall ask to have a kicker routinely kick 50-plus-yard field goals, the Bengals have been a bit spoiled by “Money Mac” over the years. He’s hit a dry spell of late, missing three long field goals over the past four games, giving cause for some concern. He had a similar dry spell in the middle of 2022 and snapped out of it, so the hope is that he’ll do it again.

Anyone associated with the running game

Call out Frank Pollack, the offensive line, their run game coordinator, the backs and anyone else. While it was a pass-heavy day, Chase Brown finished with 32 yards and a 2.7 yard per carry clip, while Moss had 11 rushing yards and a 2.2 carry clip. We hate to bring up he who shall not be named (Joe Mixon), but the vacancy there is having an effect.

The secondary

It was a big assignment this week, but very few were immune from criticism this week. Jordan Battle was beaten on a deep touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith (call out the coaches for him being on single coverage there), while DJ Turner was seen giving up a critical third and long and many more instances.

There is a lot of talent and athleticism in the back end of the defense, which is good. However, inexperience and a myriad of mistakes plague the team.

Bengals without Tee Higgins

Higgins is a personal winner because each week he is out, he shows how valuable he is to this Bengals’ offense, and that was evident today.

Others stepped up here and there, but with the old staples of Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd being gone, the new guys they’ve brought in need to show more reliability when No. 5 is out.

While teams and even the Bengals will balk at the annual handful of games Higgins inevitably misses every year, Higgins is showing the Bengals how much he is worth in the many other games he suits up to play in this offense.

What’s really unfortunate is Higgins missed this game because of an injury suffered in practice. If you recall, Higgins suffered a hamstring injury in practice and went on to miss three games. The Bengals lost all three to Houston, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh.

In Week 1 of this season, Higgins hurt his hamstring in practice, and the Bengals lost the two games he was out to New England and Kansas City by seven total points.

After today, that puts the Bengals at 0-6 in games Higgins misses because of fluky practice injuries.

Bengals Fans

This tweet from our good pal John Sheeran pretty much sums it up for a team that hasn’t won a meaningful home game since Week 15 vs. Minnesota last year and is now 0-4 at home this season.

The fans who continue to pick this stadium despite the constant struggles deserve better than an 0-4 mark with Joe Burrow playing QB. The good news is they play a lowly Raiders team at home next week and should win that one. But will it really matter in the long term?