Bengals

It's a rivalry week right from the very beginning in 2022 for the Cincinnati Bengals as they host the Pittsburgh Steelers at Paycor Stadium.

This has the feel of a grind-it-out Mixon game that is never really in doubt thanks to the stout defense. New coaches, players, strategies, rust and conditioning, all of it plays a part in the wacky results annually. Cincinnati, after all, ran up a 65-20 score on the Steelers last year over a season sweep.

The Steelers took over at the 20-yard line with 56 seconds left. Mitch Trubisky completed a 9-yard pass to Diontae Johnson, and then he hooked up with Pat ...

– What Went Wrong, then Right: The Bengals forged a 20-20 tie with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Ja'Marr Chase with 2 seconds left, when Chase cut to the pylon in front of Ahkello Witherspoon. – What Went Right: On the first play of the fourth quarter, Alex Highsmith's third sack set up a third-and-14, and the Steelers defense got off the field after the next play. – What Went Right: The Bengals moved to a first-and-goal at the 4-yard line following a 31-yard run by Joe Mixon, but the Steelers defense stiffened and limited Cincinnati to a 26-yard field goal that made it, 17-6, with 14 seconds left in the first half. – What Went Right: The Bengals took the second half and went three-and-put, with Terrell Edmunds dropping Joe Burrow 2 yards short of the line to gain on a third-down run. On fourth-and-6 from the Steelers 36-yard line, Bengals Coach Zac Taylor eschewed a field goal attempt and opted to go for the first down. – What Went Wrong: On the Steelers possession following the touchdown and 2-point conversion, Mitch Trubisky converted one third down with a scramble, and he appeared to have done it again on the next third-down situation, but Dan Moore Jr. – The Steelers defense came up with their fourth takeaway – and third interception – of the game when Cam Sutton cut underneath Tyler Boyd and made the interception at the Steelers 14-yard line. – What Went Right: It was a possession that ended with a field goal that sliced the Steelers lead to 7-3, but the defense again stood up and was accountable. – What Went Right: The Steelers offense delivered with this takeaway, and it ended with a 1-yard Mitch Trubisky pass to Najee Harris and a 17-3 lead with 8:46 left in the first half. The first play was a reverse pass, with Najee Harris flipping to Gunner Olszewski, who flipped it to Mitch Trubisky, who then hit Pat Freiermuth with a 31-yard pass to the Bengals 3-yard line. The Bengals netted three first downs on the possession, and the third of those gave them a first down at the Steelers 334-yard line. – What Went Right: The Steelers used their defense to land the first punch, and that defense only needed two plays to do just that.

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow shook off a career-high four interceptions and appeared to lead the Bengals to an improbable victory twice, ...

Then on the next snap Watt leaped in the air and plucked it barely after Burrow let it go. The defense again held on third down with Trey Hendrickson coming fast off the edge and strong safety Vonn Bell was glued to Freirmuth to force a Boswell field goal that made it 10-3. On the drive's big play, a 32-yard run-and-catch by tight end Zach Gentry, Trubisky shot-putted it all of three yards. The only thing Heyward hadn't done in a decade against the Bengals was get an interception and he almost got that. Burrow tried to kick the rust off in a half he was 11 of 17 for 109 yards. A false start on Volson pushed them back five yards, but Burrow made a nice feathery throw to Chase in the end zone. Burrow tried to hit Hurst but overthrew him in the end zone. Three of those were Burrow interceptions (he also lost a fumble), tying his career high and a stunning development for guy that threw just two interceptions in the final eight games last season. He had time to wait for Thomas to get loose and come back to him on the left sideline. On fourth-and-six, Burrow went for Boyd over the middle, but he suddenly became double teamed when cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon read Burrow's eyes for the pick. Then when the Steelers blitzed from their 2, Burrow beat it hitting his first touchdown pass of the year to Boyd outrunning cornerback Cameron Sutton. Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick took advantage of the new operation to block what would have been the winning extra point and send it to overtime

The Cincinnati Bengals put up an ugly first half of football during the season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That still wasn't enough to put the ...

— Burrow threw a fourth pick in the second half on a ball that had no chance to make it through a pair of defenders. The line in front of Burrow — coming off a surgery at the start of camp — debuted four new starters who didn’t get a lot of practice time together. — Nightmare start for the Bengals as the line starting four new players gave up a sack on the first play. But a Burrow-sack fumble during the former gave the Steelers free points to make it 10-3. Things got chaotic from there in an overtime session that went down to the wire before a 23-20 final favoring the Steelers. That still wasn’t enough to put the game out of reach thanks to a strong defensive effort.

Joe Burrow had five turnovers and the Bengals' special teams failed to convert multiple game-winning opportunities.

But the turnovers and missed field goals were too much for the Bengals to overcome. On one of them, he felt pressure and threw the ball right to Steelers edge rusher T.J. Burrow got the ball with 95 seconds left in regulation, down six and no timeouts. Following a blooper of a snap, Evan McPherson missed what would have been the go-ahead extra point that would have won the game. Then in Sunday’s season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Harris had to leave the game with a biceps injury. If Harris were healthy, the Bengals would have had two chances at a game-winning field goal.

The Bengals quarterback started his day started with a pick-six. His afternoon didn't really get better after that.

Possessing the ball with 1:04 to go, Cincinnati had the chance to score when Burrow was strip-sacked on third down at midfield. Still, none of those miscues seemed to matter when Chase’s six-yard touchdown catch with two seconds remaining in regulation knotted the score at 20. So we got on the ball to run it in quickly. His kick did not come close, sailing far left of the goal post. Instead, Cincinnati failed to score and turned the ball over on downs. With a two-point conversion from Burrow to wideout Mike Thomas, the Bengals closed within 17-14, making their miserable start easier to forget. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s first pass of the season was intercepted and returned for a score by Minkah Fitzpatrick. It’s hard with all the craziness of that moment, all of the communication, to get that, ‘Hey, stop, stop: Let’s evaluate this.’ We just couldn’t get it done fast enough by the time we’d seen a replay and realized, ‘Oh shoot, he might have gotten in there.’ ” After Pittsburgh took a 20-14 lead, Burrow threw another interception to Steelers cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon with 8:23 remaining in regulation. He was ruled out-of-bounds at the 1-yard line after his right foot appeared to touch the goal line. (The other was Buffalo’s Josh Allen in 2019 against the Jets.) The 2022 season didn’t start kindly for the two teams that appeared in the Super Bowl seven months ago.

Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins suffered a concussion in the second quarter Sunday and has been ruled out for the rest of the game.

The reigning AFC champions committed four turnovers in the opening half. Higgins left the game in the second quarter after he was hit following a 9-yard completion. He was officially declared out at halftime.

Strong-legged Bengals kicker Evan McPherson also missed a 29-yard field goal in overtime after the snap was high. Advertisement. Mitch Trubisky was far from ...

It’s not that Harris played poorly — he did score the first offensive touchdown of the season with a 1-yard catch — but the offensive line continues to make life difficult for the second-year back. After an injury to his ribs stalled his participation in training camp and preseason games, Highsmith didn’t look rusty as he picked up three sacks, a forced fumble and two tackles for loss. The Steelers were embarrassed twice by the Bengals last year and had lost three straight in the series, but they showed up to the season opener with payback on their minds. He got back to his turnover-producing ways while still keeping a lid on it when Joe Mixon got to the second level. That figures to be the formula for this team in 2022. Minkah Fitzpatrick’s pick-six less than three minutes into the game stunned quarterback Joe Burrow and the Bengals and was just the first of what would turn into four first-half turnovers, including three interceptions by the 2020 No.

Joe Burrow committed five turnovers and Evan McPherson missed a key extra point in the fourth quarter and a field goal in overtime as the Bengals lost their ...

Steelers running back [Najee Harris](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4241457/najee-harris) was held to 23 yards on 10 carries and didn't finish the game because of a foot injury. [Mitchell Wilcox](http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/3923392/mitchell-wilcox) as the long-snapper. [Ja'Marr Chase](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4362628/ja'marr-chase) to tie the game at 20 with two seconds left. Bengals kicker [Evan McPherson](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4360234/evan-mcpherson) missed a 29-yard field goal that could have won the game in overtime. Last year the Bengals trounced the Steelers twice on their way to a division title that led to their first playoff berth since 2015. [Clark Harris](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/10686/clark-harris), who has had the position for the team since 2009, suffered a right biceps injury that ruled him out for the end of regulation and overtime. "We had a chance on the first one," Wilcox said. But Steelers defensive back [Minkah Fitzpatrick](https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/3925345/minkah-fitzpatrick), who returned an interception for a touchdown on Cincinnati's first drive of the game, blocked the potential game-winning extra point. We stayed even-keeled and we came back and put us in a position to win." In Cincinnati's first game since Super Bowl LVI, Burrow committed five turnovers, the Bengals missed two chances to win the game and were left with a sour result. Burrow threw a career-high four interceptions and lost a fumble in the team's loss. The Bengals endured a day that featured several turnovers, an upended kicking game and a rocky outing in

The Ruler of the Jungle in Dave Lapham's first NFL opener was the great Lemar Parrish in 1974. Lapham, tapped as Sunday's Ruler of the Jungle who opens the ...

"It was a tone-setter, especially for this group and this organization," Bell said in the week leading up to this one. Of course, he's "up in the bit," for this one. "I don't think it's going to be all that crisp, especially from the Bengals side. The hair on the back of your neck stands up." He gave his "Keys To The Game," an hour before the game instead of just before the kickoff. "The preseason games were big for me," said Lapham, a third-round pick out of Syracuse.

We had our chances. To lose the turnover battle five to nothing, to have kick operations ruined on two kicks that both would have won the game is disheartening ...

"We've got to watch the film, make corrections and then we're moving on. Overall, we did a good job fighting and we've got to do the same thing again next week." "It was a bench route and Joe [Burrow] threw me the ball. It was a tough game and we had an opportunity to win it." I had a little bit more experience with the long snapping on punts, but it would have been good to get some reps at placekicking snaps." If the ball dribbles back or it's an errant snap, then you get a chance to get to the next play." "We do everything we can to iron that out. We felt the right decision was to kick it on third down in case the snap was off and Kevin Huber could just spike it and we could try to kick it again. We had a no-score down in the low red zone, we had a no-score in overtime. You saw earlier that they rushed us on some looks earlier in the game, so we just wanted to make sure everything runs smooth." We got yards there at the end; we just couldn't finish those drives that would have won the game for us." "You have to trust that we're going to get it done.

Cincinnati's first two snaps resulted in a sack of quarterback Joe Burrow by defensive tackle Cam Heyward and an interception and 31-yard return for a touchdown ...

But the Steelers settled for a 20-yard field goal by kicker Chris Boswell and a 10-3 lead with 2:25 left in the opening quarter. The Bengals countered Fitzpatrick's early pick-six with a Bengals-record 59-yard field goal by McPherson that cut the Steelers' lead to 7-3 with 7:17 left in the first quarter. The Steelers responded with a seven-play, 15-yard drive in 2:08 that delivered a 48-yard field goal from Boswell and a 20-14 lead with 11:13 left in the fourth. The Bengals cut an 11-point halftime deficit to three at 17-14 with a nine-play, 46-yard drive in 5:44 that ended with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Burrow to wide receiver Tyler Boyd and a two-point conversion pass from Burrow to wide receiver Mike Thomas with 4:41 left in the third quarter. The Bengals punted the ball back to the Steelers with 56 seconds left in the overtime. The Bengals turned a second-and-goal from the Steelers' 6-yard line with four seconds left in the fourth quarter into a touchdown pass from Burrow to wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase.

Joe Burrow had five turnovers and the Bengals' special teams failed to convert multiple game-winning opportunities.

But the turnovers and missed field goals were too much for Cincinnati to overcome. On one of them, he felt pressure and threw the ball right to Steelers edge rusher T.J. In overtime, following a high snap, McPherson missed a 29-yard field goal that would have won the game. If it weren’t for the special teams miscues, Burrow would have started 2022 with another game to add to his legend. If Harris were healthy, the Bengals would have had two chances at a game-winning field goal. Then in Sunday’s season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Harris had to leave the game with a biceps injury.

Burrow wasn't the only one at fault. Head coach Zac Taylor had a rough game too. He's built a great culture and has gotten better as a playcaller ...

So you’ve got to find the silver lining there." "When you lose the turnover battle five to nothing, I don’t expect to win many games. Were the Bengals worried about a bad snap? Those 13 seconds could've made all the difference—especially for a Bengals' defense that had played great during the first 69 minutes of play. They punted with the clock running and 13 seconds left on the game clock, which gave Pittsburgh more time to get the ball downfield and make the game winning field goal. "We got on the ball to run it in quickly. “Part of it was that that’s the hardest place for us to see in the entire field is that spot. "That part was a fine line of wanting to milk [the play clock]. It’s hard with all the craziness in that moment, all the communication." "In hindsight, maybe he was in and we could have given ourselves a chance.” He's built a great culture and has gotten better as a playcaller, but continues to struggle to make the right decisions in close games. Burrow was awful in the first half of Sunday's game.

The quarterback sat long after the game in his uniform pondering his four-interception performance and loss to the Steelers.

[Cordell Volson](https://theathletic.com/nfl/player/cordell-volson-zEb7vfnsVIawq3Xb/)’s “welcome to the [NFL](https://theathletic.com/nfl/)” moment came on the first play when he allowed a sack, and it lasted the entire first half thanks to [Cameron Heyward](https://theathletic.com/nfl/player/cameron-heyward-feBsAS6S9A9gmWyX/). Watt](https://theathletic.com/nfl/player/tj-watt-4CFz5pEMJnoQ2GNB/) before the reigning defensive player of the year left with a pectoral injury in the fourth quarter. Burrow clearly wasn’t taking it that way, and neither was anyone else in the locker room. But the man who knows him best and has played with him the longest isn’t 100 percent sure. Burrow’s fifth turnover came early in the fourth quarter on a fourth-and-6 play at the Pittsburgh 36 with the Bengals down six. Instead, Burrow again forced a ball to a double-covered His answers — like the time had to throw most of the afternoon — were short. I don’t think it was anything the defense did. Then center [Ted Karras](https://theathletic.com/nfl/player/ted-karras-RlAc8Jx1v1fNNgAJ/) approached uneasily, telling his quarterback he didn’t know what he’s like after a loss and asking whether he should just get lost. It starts with the guys up front. He never threw more than two in a game at LSU. “Obviously, you don’t want to throw four picks, but I never panicked,” Burrow said.

Evan McPherson had to agree. Goofy. The day that began with him breaking his own Bengals field-goal record with a 59-yard-first-quarter projectile ended ...

On the series before he drew a taunting penalty on a failed fourth-down attempt in the end zone and pulled the mouthpiece out of cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon's mouth because "he was taunting me." It's a fine line — when you get the ball on the inch, you just want to punch it in real quick. So, we got on the ball to run it in quickly. But it looked like Chase had won it moments earlier when he fried cornerback Cameron Sutton for what appeared to be a 13-yard touchdown when he went over the pylon. "They just did a lot of two-high (safeties)," said wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase "and really, we just tried to move everybody around, use short routes and get everybody underneath, and we didn't hit too many whole shots today. The Bengals have turned it over that many times in only two other openers out of 55 and the last time an NFL team won a game with a minus-five-turnover differential was nine years ago. We moved the ball," Taylor said. Rookie left guard Cordell Volson, making his first NFL start in his first NFL game, false started and they had to take the field goal. "On the second one, it's on me. "I think they got good penetration and I thought I hit it pretty good," McPherson said. He kicked a 65-yarder to end the fan training camp practice last month while banging three from 50 and beyond in the preseason games. "I thought I hit it pretty good.

The defense lived up to its coach's definition of dominant with a TD, 5 takeaways, and 7 sacks.

With that, the Steelers' task came down to digging in and working to prevent fatigue and attrition from erasing the cushion it had played such a large role in helping to build. And when Cincinnati lined up for an extra point with 2 seconds remaining in regulation that would win the game, Fitzpatrick broke through and blocked it to send the game into overtime. Watt on the fourth; and an interception by Sutton on the fifth, before the Bengals were able to run nine clean plays to settle for a red zone field goal on the sixth. But just because the Steelers offense wasn't capitalizing on all of the opportunities and beneficial field position presented by the defense, it capitalized on enough to build a 17-6 halftime lead. They showed up ready to play, they made some plays on some balls that were really great plays." Against the Steelers, on 18 first-half pass plays, Burrow threw three interceptions (a fourth was nullified by a penalty) and was sacked four times. And so, it fell to the defense to "provide a winning edge … to do the things that position your team for victory." You know, (dominant) means a lot of things, and I was thoughtful when I said it because I want them to be what we need them to be whenever we need them to be it. It was during that awful stretch of an NFL training camp, where the monotony was as thick as the humidity, when a change in the time of the daily thunderstorm from late afternoon to early afternoon qualified as a welcome diversion. We've got to be what this team needs us to be in significant moments as well." A win that could be traced directly to their dominant defense.

A season-opening bout with the Pittsburgh Steelers was never going to be a pretty game for the Cincinnati Bengals and the 23-20 loss simply wasn't.

— Burrow threw a fourth pick in the second half on a ball that had no chance to make it through a pair of defenders. The game never ended, not when the Bengals scored what should have been a game-winning touchdown and not when McPherson lined up for a 29-yarder. — Nightmare start for the Bengals as the line starting four new players gave up a sack on the first play. Best defender in football read the quick pass and timed it right while the offensive line didn’t get in him to prevent it. But a Burrow-sack fumble during the former gave the Steelers free points to make it 10-3. Luckily for the offense, a strong showing for the defense made sure the first half didn’t create an insurmountable deficit…That Line: Cincinnati’s line debuting four new starters who didn’t practice together much this summer was always going to struggle against this Steelers front.

Evan McPherson could have won the game twice for Cincinnati against their divisional rivals. But they were without a crucial player.

In the case of the Bengals, it was the difference between a win and a loss. It looked like it was going to be a long day for the Bears after San Francisco took a 7-0 lead and Chicago kept punting after calling screens on third and longs in the first half. Down 13-0 at halftime to the Titans, the Giants came out a new team in the second half. Ties in the NFL: barf. They are the coolest dudes in the locker room, and the good ones are models of longevity. [who reached the final of America’s Got Talent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DrtCvU1wRw). That’s a nice thing to say but with Harris snapping the ball, the operation is actually fine, and the Bengals actually win. McPherson, to his credit, was diplomatic about the failed field-goal attempt: “The operation was fine. A display of football mastery for the ages, it was not. [not challenging](https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/09/11/jamarr-chase-non-touchdown-would-have-been-a-touchdown-if-challenged/) when a clear Ja’Marr Chase touchdown was ruled incomplete with just over 2:00 remaining in regulation. The Steelers were always going to be conservative with Mitch Trubisky starting at quarterback, but three points and fewer than 100 total yards in the second half is inexcusable. The latest instalment of the Steelers-Bengals rivalry was an anxiety-ridden thriller, even for those with no rooting interest in either team.

The Cincinnati Bengals emerged losers in the season-opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers. While the Bengals entered favored, there was a chance the team ...

It’s by no means all on Taylor, but on the coaches and guys up in the booth too, but it’s his job to rip them out of preseason form quickly. His offense and special teams (in an emergency scenario) weren’t ready to go, either. Burrow himself took his performance and the loss pretty hard too. Not a bad day at work in a grind-it-out game. But he was taking a beating in all facets of the game. That doesn’t count the fact he probably had a touchdown that