The Bengals were unable to follow up their week 1 victory with another one in week 2. In week 2, there were a lot more negatives to take a look at, with less positives than in week 1, as well.
The Good:
– WR, Ja’Marr Chase
Ja’Marr Chase had an impressive debut against the Vikings, a performance which included a 50 yard TD. He was able to add another long TD against the Bears, this one being a 42 yarder. He made a nice adjustment to the ball, catching it in between two Bears defenders.
– LB, Logan Wilson
Wilson had another good game. He was consistently in good position and made plays against the run and pass. While it would have been nice if he could have scooped up that fumble, his interception did put the Bengals in a good position to attempt a comeback.
– The Defence
The defence has been a somewhat surprising bright spot. They have held two good RB’s in check, in Dalvin Cook and David Montgomery. Additionally, they rank 4th in the NFL in yards given up per play, with 4.5.
– Final 2 Drives on Offence
The offence was lacklustre for most of the game. But on those last two dives, they did look good. They were finally taking some shots deep. Burrow hit Chase for a 42 yard TD. Then, Logan Wilson’s interception set them up with 1st & goal at the 9. It took only one play for Burrow to find Higgins in the end zone.
– K, Evan McPherson
McPherson nailed another 50+ yarder, this one coming from 53. He also went 2/2 on extra points.
The Bad:
– The Offence
The offence struggled for most of the game to move the ball. Joe Mixon had little room to move and Joe Burrow couldn’t get into a rhythm and threw 3 interceptions on the day. When they did start to move the ball, Tee Higgins committed a costly fumble.
– Zac Taylor’s Play Calling
For the second straight week, the play calling has been an issue. I was having flashbacks to the Marvin Lewis days. Zac Taylor was calling things conservatively from the get go. There were several runs to Joe Mixon, many of which were just up the gut, lacking any kind of creativity. Likewise, the passing plays were short and simple, allowing the Bears DB’s to sit on routes. It made it tough on the receivers to gain separation. They did not start pushing the ball down the field until they were down by three scores.
– Blitz Pickup
The subtraction of Giovani Bernard has been felt thus far, as Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine haven’t been cutting it in pass protection. Mixon has been taking on a larger role in this category, but there are times where he is not on the same page with the OL, and other times where he whiffs on the block. Given his skillset as a RB, you’d like Mixon on the field as much as possible. But if this part of his game doesn’t improve, we could slowly start to see more of Chris Evans, who made his first career catch in this game.
– The OL
While a lot of the protection issues have fallen on the shoulders of others, the OL needs to get better as well. Specifically, the guys on the inside. Trey Hopkins hasn’t quite looked like his normal self after coming off a torn ACL. Spain has been solid for the most part, but Su’a-Filo has had some poor moments. Moving forward, all three will need to step up their game to help keep Burrow clean in the pocket.
– QB, Joe Burrow
This might have been one of Burrow’s worst games thus far in his career. His awareness in the pocket didn’t look up to his usual standards and he was making a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes. Burrow threw an interception on three straight pass attempts, with one being a pick 6. Altogether, the Bears scored 10 points off of those INT’s.
– DE, Trey Hendrickson
Hendrickson had himself a pretty good game. But with the game on the line, he had the chance to sack Justin Fields, which would have given the offence the chance to lead a game winning drive. Unfortunately, Fields slipped out of his grasp and ran for the 1st down, essentially sealing the Bears victory.