The Cincinnati Bengals lost 13-9 to the Houston Texans on Thursday night at Paul Brown Stadium, to fall to 0-2 on the season. The game featured Jadeveon Clowney, Deshaun Watson, and J.J. Watt doing incredible things, while the Bengals didn’t do much of anything.
After the game, WKRC-Cincinnati reporter Richard Skinner tweeted how several Bengals players in the locker room said, “We just lost to the worst team in the league.”
Several #Bengals players in the locker room said out loud, "We just lost to the worst team in the league."
— Richard Skinner (@Local12Skinny) September 15, 2017
And that’s an interesting thing to say when you consider that arguably no team has looked worse than the Bengals have so far this season! The only reason it’s even “arguably” is because of the dumpster fires that the Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets, and San Francisco 49ers currently are.
The Bengals have looked flat-out awful, scoring just nine points total — with no touchdowns — over their first two games. In Week 1, they were shut out 20-0 at home by the Baltimore Ravens, and followed that up by losing 13-9 at home to the Texans and a quarterback making his first NFL start.
Bengals are first team to not score a TD in its first two games of a season, with both games at home, since 1939 Eagles (via @EliasSports).
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 15, 2017
Cincinnati Reds runs per game: 4.8
Cincinnati Bengals points per game: 4.5
— Brad Gagnon (@Brad_Gagnon) September 15, 2017
Every Bengals fan that came to these first two games should get their money back.
— Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) September 15, 2017
The Bengals O couldn't beat the Texans who were w/out their top CBs. That's like flipping Madden to easy mode and still losing. #HOUvsCIN
— Adam Rank (@adamrank) September 15, 2017
The Bengals have too much talent to be playing quite this badly (especially on offense), and are probably actually better than at least a few teams in the league.
AJ GREEN. Tyler Eifert. Gio. Mixon. John Ross. LaFell.#Bengals have nine points in eight quarters. Zero touchdowns.
— Thomas Duffy (@TJDhoops) September 15, 2017
But so far, they have been nothing short of putrid, and it starts at the quarterback position where Andy Dalton has played terribly. After two straight solid seasons, Dalton has started 2017 with zero touchdown passes (obviously), four interceptions, one fumble lost, and a 47.2 quarterback rating. Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis says Dalton’s job is not jeopardy, but another start or two like this from Dalton and it would be hard to defend not giving A.J. McCarron a chance.
Don’t expect things to improve for the Bengals in Week 3, when they head to Lambeau Field to take on Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. That could get ugly.
