Football is back -- an exciting, thrilling, and sometimes frustrating time for fans everywhere. It’s safe to say that Cincinnati Bengals fans have been feeling all of those emotions so far. After finishing 9-8 last season and missing the playoffs, fans want to see a refreshed, healthy, powerhouse Bengals team. However, this isn’t exactly what fans have been seeing so far.
Week 1 against the New England Patriots was thought to be an easy win, considering New England’s record of 4-13 last season. However, the Bengals struggled offensively and defensively, and lost their first game, 10-16.
After Week 1’s loss, the Bengals faced the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2. This matchup was thought to be a hard one, and fans were right. The Bengals lost this game by just one point, 25-26, so now would be good time to analyze what has worked and what hasn’t so far this season.
There have been both good and bad trends so far, so let’s take a look.
Bad trend: Defense Missing Tackles
Over the offseason, there was a lot of hype surrounding a new and improved Bengals defense. Between the addition of former Raven Geno Stone and the return of Vonn Bell, fans were excited for the possibilities.
Now, it’s too early to make declarations or write anyone off, but this defense in Week 1 left a lot to be desired. Missed tackles were the name of the game for this defense against New England. This trend began early in the first quarter of Week 1, as a missed tackle essentially handed over 14 yards to the Patriots. While New England didn’t capitalize on all of the missed tackles in the first quarter, the same can’t be said for the rest of the game. While the defense did improve more toward the second half of the game, New England was essentially marching down the field, which ultimately led to their victory.
Week 2’s defense looked much better than Week 1. Akeem Davis-Gaither and Cam Taylor-Britt had great interceptions during this game, and the unit as a whole was making much better stops in the second game. However, in the second half of the game, the defense began giving up more yards than they should have, and again there were some missed tackles.
Bad trend: Slow starts for the offense
I know what you’re thinking -- if your offense and defense are struggling, what do you have? But slow starts are a Bengals trend, and we have to have hope that the powerhouse team that we all know is there will show up and be better than ever.
Like the defense, Cincinnati's offense in Week 1also left a lot to be desired. The Bengals left Week 1 with only 10 points, which is unlike them. Maybe this is a credit to New England’s defense, but with one minute left to go in the first quarter, the Bengals had no first downs and only 17 yards. The offense struggled to get something going throughout the rest of the game. In the first quarter, on a third-and-six, Burrow ran himself for 14 yards, but the move was undone by penalties, taking Cincinnati back to third-and-six.
The offense that showed up to Kansas City was much better compared to Week 1. While mistakes were made, the offense was able to get points on their first drive, which was not the case in the first game. There were times in this game where the offense could have capitalized on opportun more, but overall they got off to a quicker start.