Cincinnati Bengals: Winners and losers from Week 9 vs Browns

Loser: Ja’Marr Chase

It was only a matter of time before Ja’Marr Chase had a truly bad game and we finally saw it happen on Sunday against the Browns. Chase didn’t have a big game stats-wise last week but he did have a touchdown reception and should have had two touchdowns but dropped one in the end zone.

This week, however, not much went Chase’s way. He had six catches for 49 yards but had a costly fumble in the first half and dropped multiple passes, including what would have been a touchdown. Burrow was also picked off twice when staring down Chase but that’s not necessarily on him.

Not every game was going to be all about Chase, as teams will figure out how to guard him more but this was the first time we saw the rookie have a bad game in the regular season. I’ll be curious to see if his Rookie of the Year odds take a hit as a result of this game.

Loser: Lou Anarumo

Sure, defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo could have been looped in with the defense entry on the first slide but I decided to give him his own entry because of how bad things have been the past two weeks.

For two straight weeks, the Bengals were favored over the opponent and for two straight weeks, the Cincinnati defense couldn’t stop anyone or anything. Donovan Peoples-Jones torched them in this game, Baker Mayfield looked like a Hall of Fame quarterback, and Nick Chubb was… well, Nick Chubb.

Anarumo was praised when things looked to be turning around defensively so he deserves to be criticized now that things are going poorly. The defense is a liability and if he doesn’t make adjustments and come up with better game plans each week, the Bengals won’t sniff the playoffs.

What do you think, Bengals fans? Who were the winners and losers from this blowout loss?