The Cincinnati Bengals are having enough problems on their offensive line. Starting center Ted Karras acknowledged as much before Week 4's road trip to Denver for Monday Night Football.
With the officiating crew liable to be against the Bengals in enemy territory, it just makes the o-line's uphill battle all the more difficult against the Broncos' dynamic defensive front.
An untimely Karras penalty that should've been an offsides against the home team and given the Bengals a first down on 4th and short instead went against Cincinnati. It was an egregious call to say the least.
Ted Karras called for awful false start, leading to comically bad Bengals sequence
Jake Browning deployed a hard count on 4th and 2 from just on the Bengals' side of midfield, as Zac Taylor got bold in hopes to build on Cincinnati's early 3-0 lead. Broncos pass-rusher Jonah Elliss appeared to cross the line of scrimmage early, which should've given the Bengals a fresh set of downs on a 5-yard penalty.
Instead, in an apparent point of emphasis by the refs, Karras bobbing his head ever so slightly before the snap resulted in a false start (h/t SI's James Rapien). Fans were furious. Here's a good encapsulation of the discourse surrounding the controversial call.
The refs expert on ESPN just said the refs got the Karras call wrong; they never disagree with the field crew.
— Willie Lutz (@willie_lutz) September 30, 2025
That tells you how horrible that call was…
That forced a Bengals punt, which Ryan Rehkow proceeded to shank only 24 yards like a golfer slicing it OB into the woods.
Anyone could see all the momentum was on Denver's side from there. Broncos quarterback Bo Nix capped off an eventual 9-play, 64-yard march to the end zone with a scrambling 6-yard touchdown run.
🔟 called his own number.
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) September 30, 2025
📺: ABC pic.twitter.com/mE4VnlK4m2
Yikes. Can the Bengals catch a break? Doesn't seem so. As if Joe Burrow going down with a months-long injury wasn't insult enough. Here Cincinnati is, trying desperately to stave off falling back to .500 after a 2-0 start, only to see the refs give the Broncos the too-friendly home treatment.
Not that this precludes the Bengals from possibly winning on Monday night. Nevertheless, it's a microcosm for how things have been the past few years. A little execution error here, a costly penalty there, or a brutal injury to derail any hopes of a Super Bowl, which Cincinnati came so close to in consecutive postseasons following the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Karras has enough sweat equity in the NFL to get the benefit of the doubt on a borderline call. The fact that Elliss clearly jumped offsides only makes it worse.