The Cincinnati Bengals did not have a good day on Sunday. They got absolutely smashed by the Minnesota Vikings 48-10 and it might not have even been that close.
As one might surmise, head coach Zac Taylor was not overly thrilled following the loss, especially after his team turned the ball over five times.
“Okay, tough game for us today,” Taylor said. “Really, the starting point for us is five turnovers, five-to-zero, all five in plus territory when we’re going in to put points on the board. Two of them obviously directly led to touchdowns. They all, to the best of my recall, led to points. And so you’re not going to go on the road in a tough environment and give yourself any sort of chance when the turnovers are five to nothing.
“You’re not going to put a sixth one on the ground that we recover and expect the win. So, a lot of things came off of that, which made things look pretty ugly.”
Well, it sounds bad when you say it like that, Zac.
Does anyone else hear Ed Rooney talking about Ferris Bueller being absent nine times when they hear about the Bengals turning it over five times?
Browning wasn’t good in first start for the Cincinnati Bengals
Quarterback Jake Browning didn’t get off to a very hot start in his first starting opportunity in 2025. Browning was 19-27 passing for 140 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. One of those two picks went back to the house, which usually isn’t good.
“He was trying to throw it to [Ja’Marr] Chase, and Harrison [Smith] got underneath it and tipped it and it was picked off,” Taylor said. “So he’s in scramble mode trying to make a play. I didn’t talk to him in depth about what he saw from the backside, but I saw Harrison get underneath it and tip the ball up. And so from there it’s a big play for them.”
It may not be panic time for the Bengals at the quarterback position yet, but it surely isn’t “don’t worry, we’ll be fine” mode.
Cincinnati Bengals defense isn’t doing any bragging
The final score would indicate that the Bengals’ defense was horrific. Well, yes and no. The Vikings – specifically Isaiah Rodgers – had two defensive touchdowns in the game so that’s not the D’s fault. Still, a lot of other points were scored.
“I thought truth be told, defensively, the first drive, they had two penalties that gave 25 yards right out the gate and gave up the touchdown,” Taylor said. “I thought they did a nice job in the first half. The score was not indicative of how this whole thing was played. The turnovers in the first half are indicative of what the score was. It was the way it was, and in the second half, the dam broke a little bit at times there. But again, we got a buckle up.
“This is a loss. That first half was ugly. We’re gonna have to make a lot of corrections from it, but we’re gonna have to be ready to move on. We’re on a big stage next week, and we’re gonna get a chance to redeem ourselves if we can handle things the right way.”
The Bengals travel to Denver on Monday night next week to take on the Broncos, so they’ll have an extra day to figure out something.
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