Bengals’ Keys: An Opportunity To Contain Caleb
Credit: Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
After starting off the preseason with a close 17-14 loss to the Buccaneers, the Bengals now head to Chicago where they will face off against the Bears. Matt Eberflus’ squad went through an offensive rebuild this past offseason, as they drafted Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze, traded for Keenan Allen, and signed D’Andre Swift, among other transactions.
What does Cincy need to do to make the most of this upcoming matchup?
Put the past week behind you
To say the Bengals have had a tumultuous week would be an understatement. The week was headlined by losing two players for the year after they *both* suffered torn patellar tendons.
Notes from practice
Two #Bengals carted off wet field in air casts — Chris Evans and D’Ante Smith
Tee Higgins 4 drops. Tons off other drops.
Burrow picked off 3 times
Charlie Jones participated in indys, STs
Cody Ford replaced Trent Brown at RT midway thru
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) August 15, 2024
One of the keys to being successful in the NFL is having a short memory and instantly putting your mishaps behind you. Football is a game of momentum; a player or a team letting mishaps get to their head can completely derail a game or even a season. After the chaotic week, Cincinnati needs to do what contenders do and move forward and prepare for the upcoming week, in addition to the regular season.
An Opportunity To Contain Caleb Williams
While it may seem obvious to say that containing the opposing quarterback will increase a team’s chances at victory, the Bengals’ defense struggled mightily against Caleb Williams in a joint practice. The first overall pick from the 2024 NFL Draft looked so impressive, he even made Cincinnati’s sports reporters blush.
“I could not have been more impressed with how Caleb Williams looked,” FOX19’s Jeremy Rauch said. “And you look at his receiving corps and you’re reminded of who they could be this year with Rome Odunze, the rookie, Keenan Allen, DJ Moore. Keenan Allen and DJ Moore gave the Bengals trouble all day long. It doesn’t have to be an indictment on the Bengals defense or some type of glowing statement about the Bears offense. It just, to me, looked like the Bears offense was better than the Bengals defense in a lot of ways.”
Bears head coach Matt Eberflus stated that the Bears’ starters would get some reps in Saturday’s titanic struggle. With a newly loaded receiver corps, Cincinnati’s secondary will have their hands full just like they did in their joint practice with Chicago. With the Bears’ loaded passing offense, the Bengals’ secondary has a huge opportunity to work out the kinks and improve their 27th ranked pass defense from a season ago.
Let the rookies continue to cook
Even though the Bengals didn’t come away with a victory in Saturday’s game against the Bucs, the rookies held their own. 5th round pick Josh Newton came down with a leaping interception, 6th round pick Cedric Johnson picked up a sack, undrafted free agent linebacker Maema Njongmeta led the team in tackles by a considerable margin, and 3rd round pick Jermaine Burton quickly lived up to his reputation as a big play threat.
Jermaine Burton TD, the first of many 👀 pic.twitter.com/G6iLsEqjCE
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) August 11, 2024
The Bengals are a team who desperately need their younger players to step up and fill the voids left by departed veterans. Much of the narrative surrounding the team heading into 2024 revolves around wondering if the Bengals will regress after losing longtime veterans Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd, among others. In game one of the preseason, the young players showed they were more than capable of developing into quality NFL players. Assuming they continue the trend, the Bengals can quickly put the regression narrative to bed.
Can you please start to show you can establish the run game
While we’re fully aware that Chicago won’t be playing their starters for the full game, it is worth noting that the Bears had one of the NFL’s best rushing defenses in 2023. They allowed the fewest rushing yards (1,468), the second fewest rushing touchdowns (8), the second fewest runs for a first down (88), and the fourth fewest yards per carry (3.8).
The Bengals have a great test ahead of them in the Chicago Bears’ formidable run defense. Chase Brown, who will be on a football field in the state of Illinois for the first time since he played college ball for the Fighting Illini, will have to prove he’s worthy of an expanded role in the regular season.
Cincinnati’s run game was practically nonexistent against Tampa Bay. The Bengals had 13 rushes in the whole game, three of which were by quarterbacks. Even though Brown was the leading rusher, he struggled mightily, as he rushed for ten yards on five carries.
It’s not fun being a Chase Brown skeptic, but these are not the type of runs that are gonna ice Zack Moss in the RB1 competition
Missing holes, bouncing everything outside – reminiscent of his inconsistent rookie year play https://t.co/91mBbj70y7
— Sam Sherman (@Sherman_FFB) August 12, 2024
For the Bengals to show the world that they made the right decision by moving on from Joe Mixon, the run game must improve from their performance last Saturday to prepare for the regular season.
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