On the heels of a 35-34 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Night Football, the Cincinnati Bengals don't currently have the longest winning streak in the NFL. In fact, they don't have a winning streak at all. But, they do have the league's longest streak when it comes to first quarter touchdown scoring.
Bengals have scored a first quarter TD in a league-leading five straight games
The Bengals have scored a touchdown in the first quarter in five straight games, which is the longest current streak in the NFL, per Sports Illustrated. The Tennessee Titans have the second-longest active streak at three games.
The last time the Bengals failed to score a first-quarter touchdown was in their first meeting with the Ravens in Week 5. Since then, they've consistently been able to put points up on the board early on in games, and they will look to continue that trend against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 11.
The matchup against the Chargers is an extremely important one for Cincinnati's playoff hopes, and a strong start could ultimately help them pull out a much-needed victory. With a win against Los Angeles, Cincinnati's playoff odds will rise to over 50 percent. But with a loss, those same odds will dip down below 25 percent. That's an enormous swing one way or another.
Getting off to a strong start against the Chargers may be easier said than done for the Bengals, however. The Chargers have allowed a total of just 16 first quarter points all season, which is the fewest in the entire NFL. Over their past eight games, the Chargers have only allowed nine total first quarter points. That's a staggering stat.
In a way, the first quarter battle between Cincinnati and Los Angeles on Sunday night will be a classic case of when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. For the purpose of this analogy, Cincinnati's first quarter offense can be the unstoppable force, while Los Angeles' first quarter defense is the immovable object. It will be interesting to see which side comes out on top.