Bengals’ alarming new problem doesn’t have an obvious fix, and their trip to Madrid could make it even worse
The Cincinnati Bengals spotted the Tennessee Titans 13 unanswered points one week after the Baltimore Ravens did the same. Now a trip overseas to face the Atlanta Falcons adds an unfamiliar variable to the problem.
The Cincinnati Bengals came out of their bye week completely sluggish two Sundays ago. Five second-half touchdowns later, it could all be excused away by simply acknowledging the time off as the culprit behind starting slow.
It wasn’t supposed to be a multi-week issue. Sunday’s 43-36 overtime victory over the Tennessee Titans makes it a problem no one in Cincinnati can overlook.
The Bengals seem to have forgotten how to start a game on the right foot.
The Titans came into Paycor Stadium as double-digit underdogs mere days after trading away their best player, All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. Tennessee still did exactly what Baltimore did last week and put up 13 unanswered points against Cincinnati to start the game.
A bottom-tier offense and a struggling defense without its former star found a way to punch first. Unlike last week, the Titans didn’t let up. The Bengals’ offense eventually answered with multiple unanswered touchdowns, but Tennessee smelled blood in the water and capitalized.
This problem is not sustainable for Cincinnati in any way, shape, or form. Maybe more importantly, it doesn’t have an obvious fix.
Bengals’ opening script is working for the opposition
The pattern is now two weeks old. In Week 7, the Ravens held Cincinnati scoreless throughout the entire first half and scored on three of their first four possessions. This weekend, the Titans put up all 13 of their first points in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the Bengals punted and then turned the ball over on their first two possessions.
Coming out of their bye week, the Bengals ranked as a top-10 first-quarter offense in terms of EPA per play and success rate. Over the last two weeks, they’ve been the worst offense in the league in the first quarter.
The opening script is working for the opposition and failing the Bengals. That it’s come against a Ravens team without Lamar Jackson and a one-win Titans team makes it all the more discouraging.
This offense has exploded beyond the first 15 minutes of each of the last two games. Still, it cannot find anything that works to start the game. If this issue persists against a quality team, it will put Cincinnati in a hole too difficult to dig out of.
A new kind of slow start
The topic of slow starts has come up often for the Bengals over the last handful of years. Usually, the conversation centered on the first few games of the season.
Cincinnati would stumble out of the gate in September and spend the rest of the year climbing back. This is different. Now, in the heart of a seemingly do-or-die year, the Bengals are seemingly sleepwalking an hour into their games.
The issue has shifted from slow seasons to slow Sundays, and that’s arguably harder to diagnose.
Some issues have clear causes and solutions. This is not one of them. For whatever reason, the Bengals can’t get out of their own way to start a game right now. Wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, the spark plug from last week’s comeback, simply pushed the problem to head coach Zac Taylor.
“Eh, I don’t know, ask Zac,” Chase told reporters after the game. “It’s not my job. Ask Zac.”
Trip overseas cause for concern
The next week adds a wrinkle nobody can predict. The Bengals will fly to Madrid early this week, jumping five hours forward across the Atlantic Ocean ahead of Sunday’s matchup with the Atlanta Falcons. It’s Cincinnati’s first international game in a decade.
Will jet lag make an already sluggish start even more sluggish? It’s a complete unknown, and that’s part of what makes the situation so uncomfortable for a team searching for this specific answer amid new injuries to key defensive players DJ Turner II and Cashius Howell.
At the bare minimum, the Bengals clearly need a different level of preparation, and more intensity in that preparation. Cincinnati has to enter game day in the right mindset without needing to get punched in the mouth to wake up.
We shall see if that happens in a completely new environment Sunday against the Falcons.
