I’m going to be honest, when I woke up Sunday, I was expecting to get destroyed. While we didn’t win, we kept it close against a very good Chargers team. Lets dive into this.
Negatives:
No discipline
Hey, what’s new? The Bengals inability to show any discipline is one of the biggest reasons why they continue to lose. In many situations, the Bengals killed themselves with stupid ass penalties.
After a new BS rule about “giving yourself up,” the Bengals were inches short of the goal line after Driskel was “short” of the end zone. It was 4th and goal with only inches to go, and for a normal team, that’s easily doable. A run with Mixon, or a QB sneak should have gotten the job done.
We didn’t even get the fucking opportunity to try. Alex Redmond decided to jump. That moved us back 5 yards, and we had to kick a field goal. Bobby Hart is always getting penalties, so him getting some more isn’t surprising. Also, if I may ask, how the hell does Billy Price get a false start penalty? He’s our center. He somehow moved before he snapped the ball. That’s bad, but also impressive that he managed to do that.
2 point conversions and Marvin Lewis’ decision making
Alright, I’m putting 2 negatives in 1 here. These 2 negatives go with each other.
So, Bengals and “converting the 2 point conversion” are not things that get along. Bengals went 0/2 on 2 point conversions last Sunday.
The Bengals actually haven’t made a 2 point conversion since week 4 of the 2015 season when they played the Chiefs….. yikes.
When Ross got his touchdown in the 2nd quarter, the Bengals were down 14-12. Understandably wanting to tie the game, the Bengals opted to go for the 2 point conversion.
Swing pass to Gio loses yards on 2-point conversion. Chargers still lead 14-12 with 20 seconds left in the half. #Bengals
— Jay Morrison (@JayMorrisonATH) December 9, 2018
Pretty sure all we try to do on 2 points in running back swings. Genius idea, Lazor. You got them there! Fast forward to later in the game, Mixon gets a touchdown inside of 2 minutes left in the game. Bengals are down by 2 points(21-23), and need a 2 point conversion to get it.
Well, that was something.
— Cincinnati ? (@CincyProblems) December 10, 2018
Driskel gets sacked on the 2 point conversion. The 2 point conversion issues are just another reason why Lazor needs to go.
However, we wouldn’t have needed to go for 2 if the Bengals had just kicked the extra point earlier in the game. Assuming they would have made that extra point, Bengals would only be down 22-23 when Mixon got that touchdown inside of 2 minutes. Extra point to tie it. But because we didn’t get the 2 point then, we had to go for 2. And that leads into the next negative, Marvin Lewis’s decision making.
Marvin’s job is to put the Bengals in the best position to win. On Sunday, he failed to do that. It’s easy to say you want to tie the game up, but trying to do so that early in the game hurt us. Marvin has to be better about these decisions. But how long have we been saying that?
*for the last decade and a half https://t.co/yCQIg9dzqy
— Cincinnati ? (@CincyProblems) December 10, 2018
Positives
Christian Westerman
Look at that, we finally play Christian Westerman, and look what happened:
#Bengals' Christian Westerman earned an 84.0 overall grade across his 42 offensive snaps on Sunday, the highest overall grade of any qualifying Bengal in Week 14.
Westerman and C Billy Price were the only two CIN OL that allowed zero pressures against LAC. #WestermanHive
— PFF CIN Bengals (@PFF_Bengals) December 10, 2018
No reason for Westerman to not start now. He’s clearly shown he needs to start. Nothing else to say.
Defensive Coordinator Marvin
The game started with the Bengals looking like the same exact shit as usual. The Chargers quickly had a 14-3 lead. It was looking to be a miserable game.
Then a miracle happened…
Relatively new defensive coordinator Larvin Mewis properly adjusted the defense, and didn’t give up a touchdown after that. They gave up 4 field goals, but against a high powered Chargers offense, It would have been nice to have this defense earlier this year though….
Secondary
A bright spot in our defense, was our secondary. Just about everyone played well. William Jackson dominated Keenan Allen. Only time Allen got a catch, was when the Bengals were in zone coverage.
#Bengals' William Jackson III earned a season-high 86.5 overall grade against LAC on Sunday, as he allowed 2 receptions for 9 yards from 5 targets on the day. #KingWJIII?
— PFF CIN Bengals (@PFF_Bengals) December 10, 2018
Dennard was solid, allowed some catches, but was targeted often. Darius Phillips and KeiVarae Russell both played well. Russell broke up a couple of passes, including a big one on 3rd down.
Jessie Bates continues to make a name for himself, and Shawn Williams also played well. The secondary played very well against a very talented Chargers offense.
Question:
Playoffs?
HAHAHA no.
Okay, maybe. We still aren’t eliminated. The AFC North is still up for grabs and if we win out we can finish 8-8 and make the wild card over 5 other teams that sit at 8-8.
Do we want that? No. Will we beat the Patriots with this team? No. Will it happen to give Marvin Lewis another playoff loss to pad his stats? Probably.
