Caleb Williams connected with Colston Loveland on a 58-yard pass to leave the Bengals stunned and stumbling into the bye week searching for answers.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Here are three takeaways from the loss:
1. Defense buckles again
The Bengals are playing historically bad defense. They gave up 39 points or more and at least 500 yards in back-to-back games, first against a winless Jets team and now against a Bears team that was missing two of its top three running backs and still managed 283 yards rushing.
According to Next Gen Stats, Cincinnati missed 15 tackles for 133 additional yards against the Bears, including 35 yards on Loveland’s game-winning 58-yard touchdown. The Bengals entered Sunday with 94 missed tackles for 645 yards, both most in the NFL.
“There’s a lot of things we need to correct, and we were just shooting ourselves in the foot at times on the defensive side,” nickel corner Dax Hill said. “Offense had a great game, and we just didn’t do enough.”
The Bears took advantage of the league’s worst run defense, and rookie Kyle Monangai, starting with D’Andre Swift out due to a groin injury, finished with 176 yards on 26 carries. That opened up the passing game, but Chicago even sprinkled in at least four trick plays to really make the Cincinnati defense look lost. Three players besides Williams attempted passes.
Hill said the struggles started with not being able to contain Williams. The Bengals, who were still missing Trey Hendrickson due to a hip injury, at times got decent pressure on Williams but couldn’t finish or keep him from escaping the pocket to make plays.
“If we can’t get Caleb Williams down, it’s going to be a long day,” Dax Hill said. “He’s dynamic out of the pocket. We didn’t really contain him as much as we wanted to. The result is the result.”
2. Flacco overcomes adversity
Flacco was questionable going into the game, after spraining the AC joint in his throwing arm in the fourth quarter of last week’s 39-38 loss to the Jets, but he still managed to pass for 470 yards and four touchdowns.
It was the first time he’s thrown for more than 400 yards in his 18-year career. His top two receivers topped 100 yards – Tee Higgins had 121 yards and two touchdowns on seven catches, and Ja’Marr Chase finished with 111 yards on six catches.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said it was “nothing short of remarkable” what Flacco was able to do while playing injured.
Chicago only was able to build a lead after starting to break through with more pressure in the fourth quarter, leading to three straight drives without points for Cincinnati. That included a sack-fumble Flacco lost, an interception and a missed field goal.
The Bears held a 41-27 lead with 2:46 left when Flacco threw his first pick as a Bengal, but Flacco got the ball back and found Noah Fant for a 23-yard touchdown and Tee Higgins for a two-point conversion after only a minute came off the clock. Evan McPherson’s onside kick, recovered by Oren Burks, kept hope alive, and Flacco found Iosivas for the lead less than a minute later.
“Whatever fans were feeling (when the Bengals were down 41-27), we were probably feeling the same thing,” Flacco said. “You’re gonna be emotional after a game, but at some point you’ve got to let that go. This is our profession. We do this for a living. And we take pride in doing it. And I hope that you would continue to take pride in doing what you do for a living, no matter what the outcome is. Maybe that’s easier said than done, but that’s what you’ve got to do.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
3. Offense losing faith in the defense?
Flacco had an encouraging message. It wasn’t that way for everyone.
Ja’Marr Chase was so frustrated after the game, he wouldn’t directly blame the defense, but said the only way to fix it is for the offense to score more points. Right now, that seems to be the only solution.
“Offense gotta find a way to put the game away somehow, someway,” Chase said. “We’ve got to do it. … That’s the only way we’re going to fix it.”
Asked about his frustrations with the defense failing to get stops, Chase said he couldn’t answer for the defense because he’s an offensive player.
That didn’t stop Chase Brown.
“We just got to play complementary football,” Brown said. “We put the ball in the end zone and go up a point at the end, finish the f-----g game. Just end it. That’s it. That’s what we need to do. Just end the f-----g game. Make them get us the ball back, let us go to 22 Victory and let’s end the game. That’s how I feel. We have taken steps forward, offensively, so that’s good. We are trying to control what we can control and do what we can do. Flacco fought like a warrior today with the way his shoulder was. Things aren’t going to be perfect. We made things work on our end. We made mistakes, we learned from them, but we just kept on fighting. End of the day, you got to go to the very end.”
Taylor said it’s “impossible” for him to say the Bengals will be able to fix what ails them defensively, but they’re going to keep working “to find a way.”
The bye comes at a good time to reset after two tough losses, Burks said.
“It definitely stings, but those games are over with,” Burks said. “We’ve got a bye right now, so we can refresh and get back to it. I really believe in this team. There’s no quit in this team and it’s for us to keep working to see it through.”
NEXT GAME
Who: Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
When: 1 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 16
TV: CBS
Radio: 104.7-FM, 700-AM
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