Winners and losers from Bengals’ week 18 snoozer vs. Browns
The 2021 regular season has come to a close and the Cincinnati Bengals are 10-7 and AFC North champions. They fell to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday but the team chose to rest their starters and let the backups go out there and take the hits in the season finale.
With the game in the books, let’s take a look at the winners and losers. I couldn’t think of many losers despite the loss so this will be our shortest winners/losers edition yet.
Bengals Week 18 Winners
Ja’Marr Chase
One of the few starters in this game was Ja’Marr Chase, who needed just 12 yards to set the single-season receiving yards record. He got the record in the first quarter and finished his rookie season with 1,455 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns.
Take that, Penei Sewell.
Mike Daniels
It was fun watching Mike Daniels out there on Sunday. The guy looked like he was having fun and showed that he’s still a good football player. He finished with five tackles including one for lost yardage. Good for Daniels, man.
Markus Bailey
Two players finished the day with 11 tackles and they were both on the Bengals’ sideline. One was Markus Bailey, the other was Clay Johnston but we’re going to focus on Bailey in this entry. The linebacker has had a few chances to show what he can do this season but he looked the best he has all season in the Week 18 finale. His pass deflection helped Mike Hilton get that key pick ahead of halftime.
Mike Hilton
Speaking of Hilton, he’s another winner in this game! He, unfortunately, had to play a lot in this game despite being a key player on the Bengals’ defense but he made a big impact. He had that interception at the end of the first half and also had two tackles and a defended pass.
Bengals Week 18 Losers
Brandon Allen
The only true loser for the Bengals in their loss to the Browns was backup quarterback, Brandon Allen. While he had a few decent throws on the day, Allen mostly looked like, well — a backup. He finished the afternoon with 136 yards through the air and a touchdown.
Now, it’s worth noting that Allen was out there with mostly backups but we still know why he’s the backup and why Joe Burrow is the starter. Though we probably knew that answer anyway.
Again, it was hard to really come up with any other losers in this game, and even calling Allen a loser seems harsh. The offensive line surrendered four sacks, making it hard for him to get much going.
"Cincinnati Bengals: All-time passing leaders in franchise history"
Do you agree with these Bengals’ winners and losers?