Bengals Lose To The Steelers on Poor Defensive Performance

The Cincinnati Bengals still have a shot at making the playoffs and still lead the AFC North by a half game but it is not looking anywhere near what it did at the beginning of the day. The Bengals not only played a better offensive game, after the first quarter, the Bengals defense virtually disappeared. Steelers

The Cincinnati Bengals offense did a lot of good things including two huge stretch plays to AJ Green, including one for a touchdown. AJ Green had 224 yard on 11 receptions and one touchdown. The rest combined for 103 yards. The rushing game was not stellar as it only went for 86 yards. The Bengals offense was not the problem although the fumble, while up 21-20, did not help, but the defense gave up a late field goal in the second, which the Steelers started on their own 20 for.

The Bengals defense looked like a other a group of old guys who cant keep up, or a bunch of rookies that had no clue how to play in the NFL. The Bengals defense allowed Le’Veon Bell 185 yards on the ground and 50 yards through the air. Antonio Brown went for 118 yards with Martavius Bryant right behind him for 109 yards. Ben Roethlisberger went for 350 yards through the air including a 94 yard touchdown pass to Bryant.

The big questions now is with how this defense has performed overall this season, should Paul Guenther’s job be in question after one season? The Bengals have gone from a top 5 defense to no even a top 20 defense. First round draft pick Darqueze Dennard has seen very limited field time, instead of the field immediately like most first round picks. This season has been terrible when it comes to defensive performance, and yes some has been due to injuries, but we saw injuries with Mike Zimmer and he kept this defense at the top.

The Bengals will face the Browns next week in Cleveland. They will need to win in order to keep their hopes alive for a AFC North title. The Browns won on Thursday Night Football in week 9, 24-3 at home.