ANALYSIS: 5 takeaways from Bengals' season-opening loss

Randy Bullock’s 31-yard field goal attempt went wide right, and the Chargers went home with a 16-13 win Sunday. The Bengals now have a quick turnaround to Thursday’s game at Cleveland.

Here are five takeaways from the game:

1. Rough start for Burrow

Burrow received a cold welcome to the NFL with several hits in the first half, including three sacks, and he had to dial up his own number to collect his first career touchdown, running in from 23 yards out late in the first quarter to open the scoring.

The offensive line gave him more time in the second half, but he overthrew John Ross and A.J. Green on back-to-back deep shots to the end zone in the third quarter and the Chargers eventually took their 16-13 lead with 8:56 left.

Just as it seemed the Bengals' offense was going to answer, Burrow ran into trouble and attempted a shovel pass that went right into the hands of Chargers defensive end Melvin Ingram at the 24-yard line. After the defense made a stop, Burrow looked comfortable leading the Bengals back down the field the last drive and was disappointed not to get the win.

“It was a bang-bang play,” Burrow said. “At the end of the day, I made too many mistakes to win the game and we just didn’t make enough plays to win the game. So, whether that call goes our way or not, a lot of calls are going to go in a lot of different ways throughout the game. I missed A.J. on a deep ball and John (Ross III) on a deep ball (in the end zone earlier) and then I threw the interception — that just can’t happen.”

Burrow completed 23 of 36 passes for 193 yards and gave himself a "D" for his performance. He was 8 of 11 for 70 yards on the last drive.

Green, who made his first game appearance since Dec. 2, 2018, led the Bengals receivers with five catches for 51 yards. He should have had the game-winning touchdown, too, he said.

“For one, he was clamping me the whole time,” Green said. “Coming off the ball within five yards, so if you’re are gonna call that, we can call that both ways. But they made the call and we lost the game.”

2. A rare Mixon turnover

Turnovers ultimately were the difference in the game. After the Chargers tied it up at 13 early in the third quarter, Mixon had a rare fumble to give them the ball back at the Cincinnati 24-yard line. That set them up for the go-ahead field goal with 8:56 remaining.

“(Turnovers) killed us,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “We went into the second half saying, ‘If we’re going to win the turnover battle, we’re going to win the game.’ And it didn’t work out that way. Hats off to the Chargers, but that’s disappointing.”

Mixon hadn’t lost a fumble since the 2017 finale. He finished the game with 69 yards on 19 carries.

3. Defense stepped up

The Bengals defense did their part to protect the lead as long as they could, forcing the Chargers to punt their first three drives in the first quarter and then holding them to a pair of field goals before halftime. Michael Badgley hit a 24-yard field goal with 7:10 left in the second quarter, then made a 43-yarder at the end of the half, but the Bengals forced turnovers on downs during the two drives in between those kicks, as Sam Hubbard stopped Chargers quarterback Tyrod Taylor on both the fourth-down stops.

Los Angeles turned up the heat with its running game in the second half, especially when DJ Reader went out with muscle cramps midway through the third quarter, and the Chargers tied the game at 13 on a 5-yard run by Joshua Kelley with 12:23 left. They finished with 155 rushing yards.

Even after the Chargers went ahead with 8:56 remaining, the defense forced a three-out their next drive to give the Bengals' offense one last chance. Cincinnati also was playing without defensive tackle Geno Atkins, who is nursing a shoulder injury.

“I think it’s just that we bend but don’t break,” Hubbard said of the red-zone defense holding the Chargers to one touchdown on three attempts. “We’re going to give up some yards but we get stops and hold them to three (points). We did a good job on the sudden change, holding them to a field goal. I think we just bow up and do a good job down there. It’s something we do well and we just gotta build on the rest of it.”

4. Game management

The Bengals used their last timeout with 6:22 left and it certainly would have helped to have one to stop the clock on that last drive, but Taylor said he felt it was an important time to make the call in a third-and-4 situation.

Burrow ended up completing a 15-yard pass to C.J. Uzomah after the timeout, but two plays later threw the interception.

“It was a critical third down,” Taylor said. “If we don’t get that third down because we’re unsure of what play we’re running, we’re in trouble. It felt like a critical down and distance where we had to get the right play off.”

After Green’s touchdown was nullified, there were just seven seconds left and Taylor didn’t think it was enough time to get another play off so he sent Bullock out to try to tie the game and go to overtime.

5. Bullock’s unusual miss

Bullock has missed just four of 50 field goal attempts in the range of 30-39 yards throughout his eight-year career, and he fully expected to send the game to overtime.

However, as he planted and went to swing his leg through the kick, Bullock felt cramping in his left calf, which prevented him from pulling through properly.

“The last play, for whatever reason during the kicking motion, my left calf just grabbed real hard, so obviously that’s not an excuse,” Bullock said. “That’s a kick that I make 99 times out of 100. It was a freak deal. I let the team down, and I’m really frustrated and disappointed. I don’t know how any of it led to that.”

Bullock had only once missed a kick at the buzzer before, when he was with Houston in 2016. His first NFL field goal as a rookie won a game against the Chargers on Monday Night Football in 2012.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP