CHICAGO – The Cincinnati Bengals fell to 2-8-1 in their last 11 preseason games, including 0-2 this year, with a 27-3 loss to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field today.
No. 1 pick Caleb Williams and Chicago’s first-team offense played the entire first half and finally punctured the end zone in the final two minutes of the second quarter.
Bears back quarterback Tyson Bagent threw touchdowns of four and 25 yards to Dante Pettis in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.
Bengals Rookie Jermaine Burton Fills New Role
It was the Bengals’ worst preseason loss since a 34-3 loss at Detroit in 2011 in Andy Dalton and A.J. Green’s Cincinnati debut:
Here are four observations from today’s game:
Second Team Defense Steps Up
Last week it was the Bengals playing their starters while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went with all backups. Today, it was Chicago running its starters out there to face second-teamers.
And the Bengals’ backups on defense (with the aid of corners Dax Hill and DJ Turner II) came out strong, forcing three three-and-outs on their first three series against No. 1 pick Caleb Williams and the Chicago starting offense.
It wasn’t until four minutes into the second quarter that the Bears got their initial first down, which came on an end around by rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze.
A 43-yard pass interference penalty on rookie cornerback Josh Newton followed, but rookie Kris Jenkins sacked Williams to throw the Bears off schedule, and they settled for a field goal.
.@KrisJenkinsJr1 aka THE MUTANT.
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— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals)
Williams started just 4-of-8 for 19 yards against the Cincinnati backups, and the Bears gained just four yards on three carries before Odunze’s 16-yard end around.
Hill and Turner only played the first two series.
But Williams showed why he was the No. 1 pick on his first drive of the first half — and fifth of the game — extending the play and hitting Odunze for a 45-yard gain against Newton.
Later on the drive, he extended the play and hit Odunze on the run, but the rookie didn’t realize he was standing on the end line. A few plays later, Williams zig-zagged around and caused Bengals defensive linemen Travis Bell and Cedric Johnson to run into each other and then scampered into the end zone for a seven-yard touchdown.
All the feels. pic.twitter.com/2ZCkruSaNt
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears)
Cincinnati rookie undrafted linebacker Maema Njongmeta followed up last Saturday’s strong performance with three tackles on the first four drives — including a tackle for loss on 2nd-and-1 — and Newton had a nice third-down pass breakup against DJ Moore before getting beat deep twice by Odunze.
Newton also got beat by Pettis on a four-yard touchdown in the third quarter and got flagged for a holding penalty on a kickoff return.
All told, the Chicago starting offense gained 123 yards on 21 plays (5.9 average gain) to take a 10-3 lead into halftime.
Bears Bring Heat
Defensive schemes tend to be vanilla in the preseason, but the Bears brought multiple blitzes and ran a few defensive line stunts that confused the Cincinnati offense.
Kyler Gordon came free on a corner blitz out of the slot and blasted quarterback Logan Woodside for a sack. Woodside never saw Gordon racing right at him.
Later, the Bears brought two blitzers. Running back Trayveon Williams picked up the pressure up the middle, but cornerback Josh Blackwell came free and hit Woodside as he threw. The ball fluttered into the secondary, where Amen Ogbongbemiga intercepted it.
On the opening drive of the third quarter, Elijah Collins picked up a blitz on a second-down incompletion, but another blitz resulted in a Terrell Smith interception on the next play that he nearly took back for a touchdown.
Williams was able to nudge Smith out of bounds after a 19-yard return to the Cincinnati 42.
Burton’s New Role
The Bengals had rookie wide receiver Jermaine Burton returning kickoffs and punts in Thursday’s joint practice, and he handled both duties in today’s game.
Burton, the team’s third-round pick, returned the first punt of the game for 23 yards, but it was wiped out due to a facemask penalty on rookie safety Daijahn Anthony. His second punt return went for just seven yards.
Burton also had a pair of 29-yard kickoff returns in the first half.
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Not only had the Bengals never used Burton as a returner before Thursday, but he never handled the duties in college.
With Trenton Irwin and Chase Brown among the regulars who didn’t dress for the game and Chris Evans suffering a season-ending knee injury Thursday, the Bengals were short on returners. It will be interesting to see how much he continues to get reps in the new roles. Burton also had one catch for 19 yards in the first half but did not play in the second half.
Cole Burgess and Kwamie Lassiter handled the kickoff returns after halftime.
O-line Oh, No … Again
After Jackson Carman’s four penalties last week against the Buccaneers, Trey Hill committed three in the first half against the Bears.
Hill pulled off the offensive lineman trifecta of trouble, getting called for a false start, holding, and an ineligible man downfield.
Another ineligible man downfield penalty on the opening drive of the third quarter went unattributed by referee Tra Blake, although it appeared to be on Nate Gilliam.
As a team, the Bengals committed 11 penalties for 123 yards.
Carman did not get into the game until 10 minutes were left in the game.
