CHICAGO – Seven minutes, eight seconds into the second half Sunday the Bengals were beating the Chicago Bears by 11 points despite themselves. They had turned the ball over twice, committed three penalties on special teams, had some questionable clock management at the end of the first half and were losing the field position battle. None of that mattered as they took a 21-10 lead at Soldier Field.
In one thorough display of self-flogging for the remaining 22:52, the Bengals gave away their season opener to the Bears, who were more than willing to take advantage of the situation for a 24-21 win.
There are such things as team victories. This was a team defeat. Every aspect of the team played a role in this loss, from the first penalty for blocking in the back by Cedric Peerman that wiped out a 50-yard punt return by Adam Jones to linebacker Rey Maualuga drawing a personal foul for unnecessary roughness with 1:06 remaining after the defense had finally come up with a third-down stop.
Maualuga’s penalty didn’t kill the Bengals. It just epitomized the afternoon.
“Coach (Marvin) Lewis said it himself,” said left tackle Anthony Collins. “We all played a part in this. Everybody. Everybody played a part in this loss. We got kicked in the ass. We really did. We got kicked in the ass. We let them get in our head, and we need to learn from every point – offense, defense, special teams, penalties, everything. We need to learn from this.
“I’m glad this happened for us. We need to learn from this so we can be straight for the rest of the season.”
Collins is one player who would’ve had the right to distance himself from the loss. Playing in place of the injured Andrew Whitworth, Collins’ main task was to block defensive end Julius Peppers, he of the 111.5 career sacks. Peppers is nowhere to be found on the final stat sheet. Nothing so much as an assist on a tackle for him.
Like anything else good the Bengals did on Sunday, it was a wasted effort.
When a team commits three turnovers, eight penalties, can’t force a single punt in the second half after holding its opponent to 97 yards in the first half, and uses up all three of its timeouts in the second half because of defensive miscommunication while there is more than 8:00 left to play, the fact that it only lost by three points is a minor miracle.
“Let me give them credit. I thought they did a good job and they beat us,” said Lewis, “but we’ve got to play better in order to win. We could’ve played better and won the football game, in my opinion, but we didn’t so it doesn’t really matter for much.”
There are a couple of things to note about the Bears: they create turnovers with their defense, and quarterback Jay Cutler has a penchant for making plays on the run. The Bengals couldn’t overcome either.
Three turnovers – two interceptions by cornerback Charles Tillman and a fumble strip and recovery by cornerback Tim Jennings – led directly to 14 points for the Bears. Two of the turnovers also happened inside the Chicago 20, costing the Bengals scoring chances. Wide receiver A.J. Green had nine catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns, but he dropped a pass from Andy Dalton that deflected into the air where Tillman, who was beaten on the play, picked it off at the 17 in the second quarter. Jennings stripped wide receiver Mohamed Sanu of the ball after Sanu had picked up a first down with a 10-yard catch at the 19 in the fourth quarter and the Bengals still holding a 21-17 lead.
“That’s what hurts most because we had control of the game until the fourth quarter, and that’s the biggest thing,” said Green. “This team is going to be real good if we put the pieces together and stop killing ourselves.”
Cutler finished the game 21 of 33 for 242 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The Bengals had him on the run on a third-and-7 play in the third quarter, leading 21-10. Cutler, flushed out of the pocket, threw for a 30-yard completion to tight end Martellus Bennett. The Bears went on to complete the drive with a touchdown. On what proved to be the decisive touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, Cutler got free of the Bengals’ pass rush and ran up the middle for 18 yards on second-and-20.
There were more miscues. An incomplete pass on second down late in the second quarter helped keep enough time on the clock for the Bears to get a 58-yard field goal by Robbie Gould and cut the Bengals’ halftime lead to 14-10. Injuries to the linebackers and new personnel groupings cause repeated confusion. All four timeouts the Bengals called Sunday were for the defense.
It all added up to one thing.
“We all know we should’ve won this game,” said defensive end Carlos Dunlap, “but we didn’t deserve it by the way we played.”
