ANALYSIS: 5 takeaways from Bengals’ season-opening loss to Patriots

Cincinnati, which has lost three straight season openers, was favored heavily to beat a Patriots team that carried a lot of questions into new coach Jerod Mayo’s first season as he tries to get New England back on track following a four-win 2023 campaign. The Bengals now have to figure out how to create some momentum going into an even bigger challenge Week 2 at Kansas City.

Here are five takeaways from the loss:

1. Lack of explosives, inconsistent running game

Burrow said he would need to look at the tape to get a better understanding of what went wrong with the offense, which went three-and-out the first three drives and fumbled the one opportunity to score in the first half.

The quarterback indicated he felt comfortable throughout the game and did not have any limitations from his surgically repaired wrist, but an offense that thrives on explosive plays was severely lacking in that area, and the running game was ineffective until the team’s lone touchdown drive late in the third quarter.

“They were taking it away,” Burrow said regarding the lack of deep balls. “They did a good job, they had a good plan. I was just taking what they gave me.”

Ja’Marr Chase was not targeted down field in the first half and said that would be a question for Taylor as to why that was the case.

Chase wasn’t even happy with his longest catch of the day, a 28-yard reception in the fourth quarter, because he felt like Burrow slowed him down with the throw (to protect him, Chase said) and prevented him from a possible touchdown. Three plays later, Burrow was sacked and the Bengals settled for a 51-yard field goal from Evan McPherson for the final points of the game.

2. Absences impacted the gameplan

Taylor said all week the Bengals would be able to prepare even without knowing for sure if Chase would play amid failed contract negotiations because they always have to account for the possibility of injuries and other circumstances. However, not having a top receiver for all of camp didn’t help, and Tee Higgins’ hamstring injury Thursday in practice threw another wrinkle into the plans.

Higgins was coming off arguably the best camp of his career, and his absence was felt Sunday.

Chase was not full-go after missing all of training camp as a “hold-in” and suffered from a case of food poisoning Saturday morning, which impacted his hydration, but he said afterward he felt “ready enough.” He finished with 62 yards on seven catches.

“Just wish we had more opportunities to make plays,” Chase said.

3. Run defense still struggling

The Bengals had taken measures to address tackling concerns from 2023 by bringing in two veteran safeties and emphasizing better communication to close gaps in the run defense, specifically, but they still gave up 171 yards rushing to a team Cincinnati knew would be running the ball.

Rhamondre Stevenson scored the first touchdown of the game to cap a 14-play, 80-yard drive on the Patriots’ second possession and finished with 120 yards on 25 carries to take pressure of quarterback Jacoby Brissett.

“Certainly our defense has risen up in that situation a million times and got a stop and stopped the bleeding. Today, unfortunately, it didn’t go that way,” Taylor said.

4. Uncharacteristic turnovers

The Patriots won the turnover battle, as Cincinnati — a team that lost two fumbles all of last year — lost two fumbles Sunday and also turned the ball over on downs once.

Mike Gesicki dropped a touchdown pass, and moments later, Tanner Hudson fumbled after making a catch at the 1-yard line to kill a drive in the second quarter. New England responded with a field goal drive to take a 10-0 lead into halftime.

“It stings a little more whenever that happens,” Hudson said of his fumble. “We get the ball moving, and then get down there and you feel like you’re about to score, and like I said, just got to be able to hold onto the ball.”

After the Bengals defense forced a three-and-out the first drive of the second half, Charlie Jones fumbled the ensuing punt return, and that led to another three points for New England. Both were momentum killers.

5. Preparation concerns valid?

The Bengals are 1-10 in the first two weeks of the season so far in the Taylor era, dating back to 2019, which brings to question whether the team is doing enough during training camp and preseason to prepare for the start of the season.

Cincinnati seemed to ramp things up more this summer, holding two joint practices to help the starters get more competitive reps without playing the final two preseason games, but even Trent Brown said during camp if he would have played the first preseason game, it wouldn’t have helped much because it was still a month out from the regular season.

Burrow’s availability all camp should have helped the offense, without other circumstances factoring in, but linebacker Germaine Pratt suggested perhaps the defense needed more preseason reps to work on live tackling.

“We had joint practices, but we didn’t do actual tackling,” Pratt said. “Obviously, tackling is huge. Able to tackle guys over and over again gets you in football shape.”

Cincinnati played better in the second half but seemed to concede the game when Taylor elected to punt on fourth-and-four with just over two minutes left, saying later he was trusting the defense to get the ball back, but New England was able to run out the clock.