Bengals gave up in 33-7 loss to Bears

Just one week removed from a close game with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cincinnati Bengals had a disastrous performance against the Chicago Bears, losing by a score of 33-7. It was a game that left head coach Marvin Lewis “at a loss for words”, although fans of the team were quite vocal on social media following the loss – many calling for Lewis’ firing (not a new cry) and others disgusted by how different the team looked when compared to the squad that took the field against Pittsburgh and fought. The number one comment seemed to be that the Bengals “quit” on themselves. The score definitely indicated there is some truth to that.

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Offense a complete disaster

The Bengals knew they’d need their offense to step up on Sunday with all the scratches due to injury on the defensive side of the ball. Unfortunately, outside of a single drive that resulted in a score in the first half, the Bengals could not get things moving. Quarterback Andy Dalton was only able to complete six-of-14 passes for 57 yards and one touchdown (78.6 rating) in the first half and was 0-for-4 in the second quarter with one sack. In all, Dalton completed just 14-of-29 passes for 141 yards and tossed an interception.

Their biggest contributors were Giovani Bernard and Brandon LaFell. Bernard had 11 carries for 62 yards and added six receptions for 68 yards. LaFell grabbed the lone touchdown and had three catches for 24 yards.

Lewis put A.J. McCarron into the game late and Dalton on the bench. McCarron would complete four-of-eight passes in his short opportunity for 47 yards and no touchdowns.

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What’s up with Green?

A.J. Green had one of his worst performances this season. He caught five passes for 64 yards but had a critical fumble and issues in coverage that led to turnovers. When Mitch Trubisky threw a ‘Hail Mary’ up to end the first half, Green was sent in to play defensive back. As he kept the play from being a completion, you could see his frustration; he slammed the ball onto the turf and headed for the tunnel.

Against the Bears, Green was Dalton’s target over the middle of the field but the ball hit his hands and deflected into those of safety Eddie Jackson. Green also caught another ball that was deflected off of his hands, luckily coming down with the completion. That was followed up early in the final quarter when Green had two nice catches of 18- and 20-yards. On the second play, as Green was moving out of bounds, Jackson was able to strip the ball for a fumble that the Bears recovered.

“This has been a strange season,” Green admitted after the game. “I feel like my focus is there, but things just happen.”

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Defense struggled without key cogs in lineup

Some may not feel that Vontaze Burfict and Nick Vigil are keys to the Bengals defense, but considering how Kevin Minter played against the Bears, they may change their mind quickly. Minter was caught out of position in the center of the field and Chicago took advantage, running the ball up the middle and finding receivers wide open in the slots. Minter looked slow and outmanned nearly the entire game. He didn’t get much help from his teammates on defense that were trying to cover their own zones and contain.

“It’s embarrassing to do this at home,” Carlos Dunlap said after the game. “We didn’t defend our home field, and that’s something we take pride in… We had fans here; I had a lot of family here. It was embarrassing to put that up there and come out like that.”

The loss to Chicago was the seventh time this season that Cincinnati has been unable to score a touchdown in the second half of a game and the fourth time they didn’t score a single point in the third or fourth periods. The Bengals have allowed opponents to score 84 points in the fourth quarter against them as opposed to the 71 points they’ve put on the scoreboard and are on pace to do worse than the 2002 Bengals that finished their season 2-14 according to the Bengals’ official website.

On Sunday, Dave Lapham of Bengals radio said, “We’re watching a football team quit … They are just not giving the effort, not giving any kind of resistance.” The Bengals face another disaster in Week 15 if they can’t gather some inner strength and show more effort against a Minnesota Vikings team on Sunday that is 10-2 on the season and surging in the second half of the season in the NFC North.


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