The players wore white helmets that bore black stripes, as well as white jerseys, pants and socks.
The endzones were painted white as was the big B logo at midfield. And Cincinnati fans were asked to dress in white, as well.
But what the team really needed for its effort Sunday was a white flag it could have started waving in the second half.
The Bengals surrendered.
Thanks to some disastrous play calling by head coach Zac Taylor, the absence of a running game and a defense that needs to be overhauled, they ended up being blown out by Philadelphia, 37-17.
The loss dropped them to 0-4 at home this season — 3-5 overall — and severely damaged any chance of making the playoffs, even though Taylor and quarterback Joe Burrow said otherwise after the game.
“It’s not a spot we can’t get ourselves out of,” Taylor said.
“I think 10 wins usually gets you in, so we’ve got to win seven out of nine,” Burrow said. “That’s doable, so we’ll go from there.”
That was doable for Cincinnati teams of a two and three years ago, but not this one the way it’s played through the first two months of the season.
Right now, the Bengals are one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL.
While they are 3-1 against teams who almost surely won’t make the postseason, they’re 0-4 against teams likely headed to the playoffs.
And their remaining schedule includes road games at Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Dallas and a home contest against the Steelers to end the regular season. They won’t be favored in any of those games.
After watching Sunday’s collapse, seven wins in the next nine games is barely conceivable.
The Bengals opened the game with an impressive 17-play, 70-yard march down the field and scored on Burrow’s short toss to Ja’Marr Chase. As it turned out, that — and a scoring drive to open the second half — were about the only highlights of the day for the Stripes.
The Bengals ended the first half with Evan “Money” McPherson coming up broke on an errant 54-yard field goal attempt and the game was knotted 10-10 at the break.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The Eagles owned the second half, their romp jump started by a disastrous play call by Taylor on a fourth-and-one situation at the Bengals’ own 39-yard line at the end of the third quarter.
On the play before that, Bengals running back Zack Moss — who averaged just 2.2 yards a carry Sunday — was stuffed for no gain on third-and-one.
Taylor decided to gamble, but rather than use Chase in the open field, where he’s always a threat, he called a short screen pass two yards behind the line of scrimmage. The Eagles were not fooled, and Chase was immediately tackled for a two-yard loss.
The mine-no-words wide receiver questioned the play call after the game.
“Just one call I wish we could have taken back or change to something else,” Chase said. “But we called it and it happened. I don’t mind being aggressive, but they were on it.”
To his credit afterward, Taylor took full responsibility for the call:
“We come out and go for it on fourth down and don’t t get it and that’s heavy on my mind the entire game. Anytime that happens and I make a decision like that, and it doesn’t go your way, you’re sick to your stomach about it.”
After that, the white flag went up.
Philadelphia quickly kicked a field goal to go up by 10 and the Bengals closed out the game with a deflected Burrow pass being intercepted on one possession and a fumble after a catch by tight end Mike Gesicki, who otherwise had a tremendous game with a team-leading 73 receiving yards on seven catches.
After the game, the Bengals had trouble grasping how this season has gotten away from them so quickly. They were supposed to be in the Super Bowl hunt, but now a break-even season will be a tough get.
“I don’t know what it’s going to take or what we have to do, but we have to find a way, or the season will be over real quick,” said veteran cornerback Mike Hilton.
At odds with his 7-2 finish scenario, Burrow gave a more spot on assessment in the postgame when he said: “We’re not good enough. We’re not good enough, so we’ve got to get better.”
Some players thought that was possible.
“I’ve been on a couple of teams in my career that have not started out great but in the second half (of the season) got rolling,” said Gesicki, who spent five years with the Miami Dolphins and last year with the New England Patriots.
“I think this team has that, even more than any team I’ve been a part of. There’s just so much talent. We have unbelievable coaches, elite quarterback play.
“I don’t think anybody in this locker room is hitting the panic button. There’s frustration and there should be, but we’ve got plenty of time.”
Across the dressing room, center Ted Karras had the same glass-half-full attitude as he looked ahead to next Sunday’s visit by the Las Vegas Raiders:
“I don’t think 3-5 is a panic mode. We’re two games back with nine to play. That’s a lot of time. There’s a lot of football to be played. The season’s not even half over.
“No one’s panicking and that’s a credit to the organization for the quality young men we have in this locker room. Guys are going to come in tomorrow ready to go. We’ve got to get our first home win.
“We can talk about January all we want, but what we need to do is win in Paycor right after Halloween.”
To do that you noticed the Bengals had shed their white costumes as quickly as possible after entering the dressing room following Sunday’s embarrassment.
Even before the game ended you saw the “White Bengal” promotion evaporate right before your eyes.
As the final minutes ticked off the clock, the white-clad fans who had packed the stadium were mostly gone and the bottom part of Paycor was awash in Eagles’ green as Philadelphia fans took over the seats without resistance in the same fashion as their team had laid claim to the field.
And as soon as the crowd left the stadium, a groundskeeper’s Gator affixed with two large water tanks pulled onto the field and for the next four hours it drove back and forth across the two end zones, power washing away the white paint until the Bengals’ traditional orange with black stripes reappeared.
Unfortunately, nothing could wash away the beat down that had just occurred and the 0-4 mark at home.
About the Author