Sports Illustrated - SI:AM | The Bengals Can Breathe a…

SI:AM | The Bengals Can Breathe a Sigh of Relief

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. It’s been raining for four straight days here in the New York area, and I’m losing my mind.

In today’s SI:AM:

🐅 An important win for the Bengals

📈 NFL power rankings

🏀 Damian Lillard update

A win is a win

It wasn’t the prettiest win, but the Bengals have to feel good about themselves after gutting out a hard-fought 19–16 victory over the Rams last night.

After entering the season with Super Bowl hopes, Cincinnati didn’t remotely resemble a playoff team in its first two games. The offense managed just 142 total yards in a 24–3 loss to the Browns in Week 1, then the defense surrendered 415 yards in a 27–24 loss to the Ravens last week. To make matters worse, quarterback Joe Burrow reaggravated the calf injury that plagued him all through training camp. It initially seemed unlikely that Burrow would play on Monday Night Football, but he was able to give it a go and passed for more yards (259) than he did in either of the first two games. It was enough to get the win, but the Bengals’ offense wasn’t humming like it had in the previous two seasons, Gilbert Manzano writes:

There was nothing explosive about the Bengals’ offense in the first half—they averaged 3.8 yards per gain and stalled multiple drives with false starts on third down. Burrow occasionally took his chances downfield, but he missed a handful of throws that were uncharacteristic for his lofty standards. Burrow completed 54.8% of his passes in the opening half. (He completed 68.3% of his passes in 2022 and a league-high 70.4% in ’21.)

It was a grind, but it was a win, and sitting at 1–2 makes it a lot easier to make the playoffs than if the Bengals had joined the Bears, Broncos and Panthers as the only winless teams in the league. Manzano believes that the win vaulted Cincinnati back into the conversation of AFC contenders.

Being able to beat a quality opponent with a diminished Burrow is a great sign for the rest of the season. Burrow didn’t have to be excellent because the Cincinnati defense was. The Bengals picked off Matthew Stafford twice and sacked him six times while allowing the Rams to convert on third down only once (out of 11 tries).

Burrow’s health will continue to be a concern, but last night’s win showed that Cincinnati has enough complementary pieces to succeed when its best player isn’t at his best. Burrow is fortunate to have a receiver as reliable as Ja’Marr Chase, who caught 12 of 15 targets last night for 141 yards.

The Bengals may not have played like a Super Bowl contender last night, but the regular season is all about doing enough to reach the postseason. At this point, the Bengals need wins. They can worry about putting all the pieces together later.