Cincinnati Bengals: 3 important players to watch vs. Bears in Week 2

Most important Bengals vs. Chicago

2. Trey Hopkins

Trey Hopkins made his return to the field in Week 1, much like Burrow coming off a Torn ACL, but the difference was Hopkins struggled mightily. The starting center is one of the more trusted and dependable linemen the Bengals have, so no, you shouldn’t panic over one bad week, but how he responds will be big.

He didn’t have an easy matchup against the Vikings trying to block Michael Pierce and the rest of the Minnesota pass rush, but it won’t get any easier this week against the Bears. Their strength is their ability to blitz and rush the quarterback so Hopkins will have another test this weekend.

The center was the weak link on the line this weekend. Outside of the tackles, Jonah Williams and Riley Reiff, who both didn’t allow a pressure or a sack, Hopkins allowed two alone, and both were not pretty as he clearly got beat on each of them.

Hopkins had the lowest PFF blocking grade with a 7.5. and yes, that is correct. The closest other offensive linemen were Quinton Spain and Xavier Su’a-Filo, who each had a 62.5 grade. I expect Hopkins to return to form soon, but this will be another test in that process.