Cincinnati Bengals: 3 Reasons for loss vs. Vikings in Week 15
By Kenn Korb
Looking back at the Cincinnati Bengals’ Week 15 loss to the Minnesota Vikings to try understanding why they were defeated 34-7.
Another week, another deflating blowout to an NFC North team for the Cincinnati Bengals.
If there’s any solace to be found here, it’s that Minnesota is at least a much better team than Chicago, one which should have been able to win this contest even on a good day from the Bengals.
Sigh…Let’s traverse back through this saddening loss, shall we?
3. Throwing The Game Away Early
Coming into this game, there was no doubt that Minnesota was an infinitely better team than Cincinnati.
On one side, we had a 10-3 squad with aspirations for a bye in the NFC that’s top-10 in just about all Football Outsiders’ offensive and defensive DVOA categories. The Bengals, meanwhile, are a bottom-rung offense (25th in Offensive DVOA) and a defense which started the year off well has devolved significantly (18th in Defensive DVOA).
Obviously this put Cincinnati at a disadvantage, but the team does have talent; if they could manage to win the turnover battle, they could shrink the margins and possibly put themselves in position for an upset. Didn’t take long for that dream to get sunk.
Cincinnati began their second offensive drive down just 7-0, with their defense having just forced a punt. On third-and-6, Andy Dalton dropped back for a pass, looking for Alex Erickson over the middle. Unfortunately, there were also numerous Minnesota defenders in the area as well, and one of them (Eric Kendricks) came away with the ball. The play didn’t stop there, either; Kendricks would turn up the field and return that errant throw for a touchdown.
With the score, Minnesota put themselves up 34-7, and well on their way to an easy victory.