It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that opposing offenses can have big days against the Cincinnati Bengals defense. To say it’s porous is generous. It’s bad, by every metric and by every definition. It also isn’t going to improve in such a way this season that it’s NOT a liability in 2019.
In Week 2 against San Francisco, a suspect Niners quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo looked like an MVP candidate. In Week 4, a backup in Mason Rudolph helped the Steelers to rout the Bengals. In Week 5 and Week 6, playmakers in Kyler Murray of the Cardinals and Lamar Jackson of the Ravens punished the Cincinnati defense.
Before all is said and done this season, the Bengals will face the likes of Jared Goff, Derek Carr, Tom Brady, and Jackson again. All quarterbacks who can light it up on-demand.
The bottom line is Cincinnati can’t stop the run and it cannot stop the pass. You get a quarterback who can do both, like Week 6 against the Ravens, and the Bengals have a host of issues. Against a better than average running game, same deal.
Like I said, to watch the Bengals on defense is to hold your breath and hope for the best. You can’t win football games that way. At 0-6, Cincinnati is showing just that.