Mistakes Cost Bengals

Only one or two teams had as much hype coming into the season as the Cincinnati Bengals did when it came to making a deep

Sep 8, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (6) is tackled by Cincinnati Bengals outside linebacker Vontaze Burfict (55) during the second half at Soldier Field. Chicago won 24-21. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

playoff run. Thanks in part to their starring role in Hard Knocks the Bengals we’re on the front of most fans minds this opening week of football. Football though apparently wasn’t on the mind of the Bengals as metal errors and inexcusable mistakes cost them as the fell to the Bears 24-21.

Andy Dalton looked great Sunday afternoon throwing for 282 yards, 2 TD and 2 INT’s. The two interceptions one was the fault of Dalton, the next was not his fault. The receiver AJ Green should have never let Charles Tillman catch the pass. Statistically the turnover should have been on Green, unfortunately all INT’s are on the quarterback.

Second year receiver Mohamed Sanu had a costly fumble at the beginning of the fourth quarter around the Chicago 17 yard line. Sanu lost the ball as Chicago cornerback Tim Jennings recovered the ball on what would likely been a scoring drive for the Bengals.

Not only were turnovers costly for the Bengals they were also plauged by penalties. Eight penalties for 84 yards Sunday afternoon. The last proved to be the most costly as LB Rey Maualuga was called for unnecessary roughness following a third down that would have seen the Bears punt giving the Bengals one last chance. Instead Maualuga’s penalty gave the Bears a new set of downs essentially icing the game for the Bears.

“We had a lot of guys losing composure today, we can’t do that” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis would say after his teams disappointing loss.

The only positive for the Bengals Sunday was their ability to get the offense moving, Chicago for the most part couldn’t stop Cincinnati’s offense unless they committed a turnover, which they ultimately did.

“They didn’t really stop us on offense. We were doing whatever we wanted. The biggest thing we had was turnovers.” was the comment on the offense by receiver AJ Green. Had it not have been for the three turnovers Cincinnati would have won Sunday’s game easily.

Cincinnati’s defense is the question coming out of the first week. Nothing glaring just clean up on mistakes. Vontaze Burfict led the Bengals on defense with 8 total tackles. The second year player has proved himself worthy of the accolades that have been given to him.

Week 2 sees the Bengals take on the struggling Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night football. A divisional win early in the year would be great for this young team.