2 winners (and 3 losers) for Bengals in Week 4 loss to Broncos

After starting the new season 2-0, the Cincinnati Bengals have had a dreadful past couple of games to slide back to .500. On Monday Night Football in Denver, the hosting Broncos destroyed their opponent 28-3 and sent the Bengals home with their tiger tails between their legs.

The second quarter was a microcosm of how everything played out after Ted Karras' bogus, phantom false start penalty the quarter prior, which swung the entire game. Denver had the second-quarter edge in all the following categories: 30 plays to 11, 233 yards to 23 yards, 10:18 time of possession to 4:42, and 12 first downs to one.

Not many winners for the Bengals in this one. Let's inject a little humor into this premise just to keep ourselves from slipping into a shame cycle of sadness, shall we?

Winner: Trey Hendrickson

I mean this in the sense that Trey Hendrickson's odds of being traded before the November 4 deadline — much as I would personally hate to see it — shortened quite a lot in all likelihood. Willing to bet he's happy about that with how things are looking.

Hendrickson limped off the field toward the end of the first half. Still played after that. Point being, the man is a gridiron warrior who goes as hard as he can on every snap, knowing he has near-zero help around him to generate any kind of pass rush.

Denver's offensive line that was PFF's top pass blocking unit through Week 3. That unit showed out and kept Bo Nix pretty clean all night. One of many reasons why I thought this was an awful matchup personnel-wise for Cincinnati.

Read these numbers and weep with me.

Loser: Bengals front office

Probably seems like a cheap shot, but good lord, what an embarrassment. Not only did 2024 third-round picks Jermaine Burton and McKinnley Jackson preserve their perfect streak of healthy scratch statuses, but again, just look at the embedded X post above.

It was the decision of the Cincinnati brain trust to play hard ball with Hendrickson during an offseason contract dispute. There were superior edge defenders to be had via the draft or free agency. And while the jury is still out on injured first-round rookie Shemar Stewart, the Bengals' talent evaluation is pretty much a joke at this point.

Myles Murphy is absolute cheeks in the midst of his third season. So much for Al Golden hyping him up this week for how he played in garbage time last Sunday.

I had Kris Jenkins Jr. as a winner last week because he had 1.5 sacks. Turns out that was more due to Carson Wentz holding the ball too long than Jenkins' own efficacy. And don't even get me started on Cam Nonexistent Sample Size or Joseph "Waiting for Godot" Ossai.

Duke Tobin thought it'd be fun to run it back with all these dudes after witnessing how bad the defense was last year. Nice going, buddy ol' pal!

Winner: Demetrius Knight Jr.

Hey look! The Bengals got something out of their twenty-five-year-old rookie who they drafted in the second round!

Shout out to Demetrius Knight Jr. for trying to lift the Bengals' spirits with a pregame Joe Burrow No. 9 jersey. Mad respect for that stunt. Also nice to see him in position to pick off Nix on this ill-fated 4th down pass near the goal line, which helped the final score not be quite so lopsided.

Unfortunately, as of the start of the fourth quarter, PFF's live numbers gave Knight a 36.8 run defense grade, where he ranked as the second-worst qualifying linebacker in the NFL coming in. At the time, Denver was averaging five yards per carry, and Nix had thrown for nearly 300 yards.

Like I said. Not a lot of positives to take from this one. Thanks for the takeaway and the Joe Brrr drip though, Demetrius!

Loser: Zac Taylor, of course!

What was it Ace Ventura said?

""LEW-HOO-ZUH-HURR!""

Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura

Ah yes, that's right. Any benefit of the doubt Zac Taylor had about last week being a fluke due to five turnovers and two Vikings defensive touchdowns evaporated on Sunday. Those aforementioned 10 second-quarter penalties? Yeah. That's the sign of an undisciplined, badly-coached team.

And look, I obviously lay a lot of the blame at the feet of the front office. That said, Taylor just has to be better. Whatever scheme was firing on all cylinders with Burrow at the controls in prior seasons is stagnant and stale thus far in 2025.

I refuse to put any of this on Jake Browning. He has the starting opportunity of a lifetime (again) and looks like a man lost on a football island out there. This is on Taylor and the offensive staff for yet another uninspired game plan.

Loser: Jalen Rivers

Once the Bengals scored a field goal on the opening drive, it looked like the offense found a rhythm. Rookie fifth-rounder Jalen Rivers was a part of that, as Chase Brown had a couple healthy, positive (!) runs behind him.

Rivers got the starting nod over late-addition veteran Dalton Risner. At the risk of triggering anti-PFF crusaders, all I gotta say is, Rivers' live pass blocking was at a 0.0 for a good chunk of the evening — and hit 11.1 once the Bengals punted on their first fourth-quarter possession.

Didn't think it could get worse than Risner, whose head is still swimming as he attempts to digest the playbook. It's close, so the tie probably goes to Rivers as he learns via trial by fire the rest of the season.

May the football gods have mercy on us all if the Bengals don't massively expand their scouting department in the offseason, or if they don't seriously consider a coaching staff overhaul.

Not having Burrow on the field is exposing all the flaws this antiquated organization still has in a big way. This is two weeks in a row now of an inexcusable on-field product. Something must change. Drastically. And fast.

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