Even In Victory Cincinnati Has Been Unable To Escape A Comedy Of Errors
Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
“Winners are just people who have gone through failure and have responded better than the rest.” – Aaron Gordon
The 2024 Cincinnati Bengals season has been a comedy of errors, one that no other franchise (save for perhaps the Cleveland Browns, the pre-Josh Allen Buffalo Bills and/or the pre-Dan Campbell Detroit Lions) could have produced. Despite a record-setting passing duo in Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase coupled with the (as of this writing) NFL sack leader in Trey Hendrickson, the Bengals’ record sits at 6-8. For the team to make the playoffs, they need a stroke of luck not seen since Bishop Pickering’s final round in Caddyshack… minus the ending.
While Aaron Gordon may best be known for his NBA play, his above quote is a near-perfect summation of the Bengals’ most recent victories over the Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans. For in beating the Cowboys (a team that came into 2024 with expectations as high as Cincinnati’s) and the Titans (led by a gunslinging young quarterback and first-time head coach), the Bengals have beaten mirror versions of themselves. Their opponents found ways to lose both contests in 2024 Bengals fashion.
In doing so, the Bengals’ problems have almost been on fuller display in their wins than their losses. Don’t believe it? Let’s recap some of the highlights of their past two wins.
If it hadn’t been for America’s longstanding animated family, The Simpsons, the Bengals’ game against the Cowboys would have likely been flexed out of primetime. But since Disney/ESPN was wasting all that work, they remained on Monday Night Football. Most people will remember the game for (if not Lisa torching Homer for the go-ahead score) the punt that former Bengal Nick Vigil blocked that was then muffed by Amani Oruwariye, setting up the game-winner.
But lost in that chaos was Burrow’s interception and fumble (that Cincinnati luckily recovered), the 10 penalties for 77 yards, and their general failure to put points on the board despite the opportunities the Cowboys kept trying to gift-wrap them.
And Sunday’s matchup against the Titans – the team led by former Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan – served as an even greater showcase of this season’s primary truth: The Bengals don’t win games as much as their opponents lose them. Instead of taking control of a game and setting the tempo, Cincinnati spent Sunday playing reactionary instead of proactive, despite both Will Levis and Mason Rudolph doing their best to make the defense look good.
Levis is going to have to do a LOT of meditating after his horrendous performance Sunday, which – after throwing three terrible interceptions and a fumble – necessitated his second benching of 2024. Levis’ fourth Pick-6 of 2024 went to Geno Stone, the embattled Bengals’ free agent acquisition who has largely been missing in action. It has taken the likes of Cooper Rush and Levis to give Stone a chance to finally show the talents that made him the NFL’s interception leader last year. Outside of the Bengals’ most recent two games, his 2024 stat line has been as vacant as Frisch’s restaurants in Cincinnati.
Of course, Stone’s touchdown was outshined by Jordan Battle, when he (in a move that somehow seems to happen at least once a season in the NFL) fumbled the ball while celebrating before he actually scored on one of Levis’ four turnovers. That resulting touchback was a microcosm of the Bengals’ secondary in one play, a mental lapse that would have been fatal against a better opponent.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Bengals stacked up penalties like Kohl’s Cash. Their 14 for 113 yards just barely besting the Titans’ 12 for 110. Burrow added two more picks on the day to bring his season total to seven, including one on the opening drive of the game that, again, might have been a death sentence against a more competent team.
But instead the Titans, now sitting at just two wins, couldn’t put the Bengals away despite controlling the time of possession battle (31:29 to Cincinnati’s 28:31), accumulating more total yards (374 to Cincinnati’s 370), and more first downs (25 to 24). It took six turnovers from the Titans to seal their double-digit doom, with the Bengals committing four of their own, refusing to get out of their own way, even on otherwise great plays.
Another example: Cincinnati finally got creative on offense, resulting in defensive end Sam Hubbard’s first offensive TD. That stroke of genius came at a price, however, which was Hubbard going down with an injury that would see him miss the rest of the game.
As the Bengals have proven time and time again this season, winning a football game isn’t always the result of playing winning football. Win or lose, the comedy of errors lives on for the Bengals. Their playoff hopes are still alive, but after seeing how the Bengals have won their last two games, this team might go down quicker in the postseason than Little Mac when you can’t figure out the timing in “Punch Out.”
In short, the fact the Bengals recovered six turnovers and only won 37-27 speaks volumes to their 2024 problem: The team, with shaky defense, needs an opponent with an even shakier offense to survive. While the offensive can put up obscene numbers, they also commit an obscene amount of turnovers and penalties of their own – and when push comes to shove, they are much more likely to get shoved than do the shoving.
In the words of 2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Famers A Tribe Called Quest, here’s to hoping the Bengals can push it along for the remainder of the season and find a way to end up on an award tour. Otherwise, they may have wait until 2025 to ask can they kick it – and do so without all the special teams’ errors they’ve had this year.
Up Next