Cincinnati Bengals: Takeaways from close Week 14 loss to Chargers

Let’s look back at the Cincinnati Bengals’ close loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 14 and observe some notable takeaways from the game.

This game was a pleasant surprise for the Cincinnati Bengals and their fans. After suffering through an endless array of embarrassing losses to every sort of opponent in the past couple months, the Bengals seemed poised for yet another depressing outing against one of the AFC’s elite squads.

Somehow, that didn’t exactly end up being the case. Despite falling behind by multiple scores early and missing essentially all of their most important offensive players, Cincinnati was able to make this a hotly contested game which saw them stay within one score throughout the entire second half and have opportunities to miraculously steal a victory from a team with a chance at home-field advantage in the conference.

Here are some takeaways from the game.

Young Players Make Their Case To Stick Around

With so many of the Bengals’ best players done for the year and the team essentially long dead in the playoff race, there’s little tangible results for the team to play for in 2018. What this period does allow, however, is the opportunity for players across the roster to stake their claim for why they deserve to keep hold of a roster spot as the franchise heads into the offseason.

Against the Chargers, we saw a handful of young players here give the Bengals something to remember when they begin building their 2019 roster.

Start with the offense. Joe Mixon had a great game on the ground (more on him later). Tyler Boyd continued what has been a breakout season, leading the team in receiving yards to help solidify his case as the best slot receiver in the NFL. John Ross caught his fourth touchdown in five weeks. Jeff Driskel had a decent outing and looks like he may actually be a worthy long-term backup quarterback. C.J. Uzomah and Cody Core — guys who clearly should be fighting for roster spots come next year — each had three catches.

Don’t overlook the young guys on defense, though, as plenty of them had the kind of results a team can build with. William Jackson III showed signs of the elite player we saw in 2017, holding his own and breaking up multiple passes when matched up against Keenan Allen. 2018 second-rounder Jessie Bates continues to prove to be a star safety in the making, standing as a main reason for why Los Angeles completed just one pass attempt which traveled 20+ yards past the line of scrimmage.

Journeyman defensive linemen Christian Ringo had the best game of his career (1.5 tackles for loss, one QB hit, 0.5 sacks). He split his sack and a tackle for loss with fellow young defensive lineman Andrew Billings.

Over the final stretch, we’ll find out if those names will prove to be capable of replicating this sort of performance, or if it is just a one-game blip on the radar. the answer to that inquiry could mean the difference between being on the 2019 version of the Bengals’ roster.