Cincinnati Bengals: 3 Reasons for loss vs. Titans in Week 10
By Kenn Korb
2. Rhythm-Breaking Turnovers
Turnovers have been a huge problem for Cincinnati in 2017. Through ten weeks, they have the third-worst turnover differential in the NFL (-9). That number is so bad due to the team also being tied for the league’s third-most giveaways (17). In this game, those same turnover issues reared their ugly head again.
The Bengals found themselves in prime position to change the course of the game early on. Tennessee was up 7-6, but had just gone on an 11-play drive that resulted in a missed field goal. With the miss Cincinnati was at their own 38 to begin their drive — an excellent opportunity to take over the lead with a score.
Didn’t take long for the good news to go bad, unfortunately. Yardage lost on first down left Cincinnati in third-&-long, and that play was a mess. Tennessee pass rusher Brian Orakpo took Dalton down for a sack, in the process forcing him to fumble. Fellow pass rusher Derrick Morgan would eventually scoop it up, giving Tennessee the ball at the Cincinnati 27; the Tennessee offense would put the ball in the end-zone five plays later.
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The bad luck wouldn’t end here. Down 14-6, Cincinnati got the ball back at their own 26. The offense found some stuff that worked somehow, and got the ball moving with relative ease. 12 yards to Green, then four yards to Tyler Kroft. Catches of 13 and 25 by Brandon LaFell. A run of 13 yards by Joe Mixon. Cincinnati was in the red zone in no time, set up at the Tennessee 9-yard line and seemingly ready to put up another score.
It wouldn’t come to pass on this drive, however. Dalton couldn’t even get the play to start without issue, as the snap was fumbled immediately. Tennessee quickly recovered, ending one of Cincinnati’s most fluid, successful drives with yet another unconscionable blunder.
While that second turnover didn’t hurt them on the scoreboard (Marcus Mariota threw an interception right away, then Mixon ran in a short touchdown on the next Cincinnati play), it was emblematic of the problems that persist for the Bengals. They can rarely find rhythm when they have the ball, and then in the fleeting moments where they do they still manage to find ways to undermine themselves in the most inexplicable. frustrating ways.
The difference on the scoreboard for the two Cincinnati turnovers may only be seven points going into Tennessee’s tally, but the loss of opportunity for the Bengals should be taken into account as well. A drive that began in solid field position for them soon become a touchdown for the opposition; it isn’t a full 1- point swing, but based on where they started a field goal was easy to envision. The second turnover may have eventually come back to them, but that happened because a defense tied for third-worst in takeaways (8) was able to come down with the ball; that’s an outlier for them, not a stable expectation.
The turnovers here were yet another proof of the flaws inherent to Cincinnati’s offense, and a near-constant reminder that the team’s personnel decisions were grossly incorrect if the goal were to succeed in 2017.