Bengals fall 37-17 to Eagles and are now 0-4 at home

Unfortunately, the Cincinnati Bengals weren’t able to come out on top in their Week 8 showdown with the Philadelphia Eagles, falling 37-17.

The Eagles won the toss and deferred till the second half. That allowed the Bengals offense to start the game, and it went about as well as an opening drive could go. Joe Burrow was almost perfect being 11 out of 12 including an amazing play call only a couple yards out where Burrow rolled out and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase rolled out from the backfield isolated on an edge rusher.

It was also the longest opening drive in terms of time in the NFL this season, taking up 10 minutes and four seconds. They were also five-for-five on third downs, which has been a struggle early in games for Cincinnati.

The Bengals and Eagles traded field goals set up off big plays. Quarterback Jalen Hurts hit wide receiver A.J. Brown for 29 yards. Their running game helped them get well within field goal range for former Bengals draft pick Jake Elliott.

Burrow and the offense answered back with a conversion on 3rd-and-22, where he was able to avoid the rush and extend the play, hitting tight end Mike Gesicki for the conversion. The offense made it inside the 10 before the drive stalled when rookie wide receiver Jermaine Burton had a touchdown knocked away by Darius Slay.

After being set up by an Evan McPherson-missed 54-yard field goal, Philadelphia’s offense was able to score a touchdown. The score came on a “tush push” by Hurts. It was initially ruled short, but it was one of the few times a quarterback sneak had enough evidence to show the ball did, in fact, break the plane. That came after the defense stuffed a previous tush push attempt. The biggest play of the drive came as Brown settled on the first down on a third-and-long in-between defenders.

The drive also drained most of the clock remaining in the first half. The score at the end of two quarters was tied at 10.

The Eagles then pulled off the double dip by scoring a touchdown to open the second half. Hurts was efficient, making it easy to find the holes in the Bengals’ defense. He then finished the drive off, calling his own number and outrunning Myles Murphy to the pylon.

Cincinnati answered back by running its offense through Chase. He had three catches on the drive, which was capped off by running back Chase Brown from four yards out. This was a big game for him as his twin brother Sydney Brown plays safety for Philadelphia.

Fireworks exploded in the third quarter overall. Hurts answered back, hitting DeVonta Smith for 45 yards. It was just a perfect pass that fell right over Smith’s shoulders to where safety Jordan Battle couldn’t make a play on it.

Right before the end of the quarter, the Cincinnati Bengals Jersey Cheap faced a 4th-and-1 after Zach Moss got stuffed the previous play. Zac Taylor opted to have the offense go for it, and the play call was to throw it to Chase two yards behind the line of scrimmage. Just a very poor choice at their own 39-yard line.

Fortunately, with a bit of help from a shoe issue with Hurts, the defense was able to hold the Eagles to just a field goal. Still, Philadelphia created a two-score lead us 27-17.

Burrow attempted to hit Chase on a streak down the sideline, but the cornerback was able to tip it right into the safety’s hands for an interception with a little over 11 minutes left in the game. The momentum definitely got a bit out of control in favor of the Eagles.

The Eagles couldn’t be stopped on the drive as Saquon Barkley broke loose for a couple of big plays, and Hurts easily found open receivers. The drive ended with a Hurts quarterback sneak for his third rushing touchdown of the game and fourth overall touchdown.

Gesicki — who had been having an excellent day up until then — fumbled the first play of the drive, effectively ending this one. The Eagles added a field goal off the turnover.

The final score in this one has Philadelphia giving Cincinnati an 0-4 record at home with a 37-17 loss.

This loss drops the Bengals to 3-5. While mathematically the season isn’t over, the amount of help this team needs is getting to the point of hoping for a miracle. Coming into the week they had a 28 percent chance of making the playoffs if they lost this one, according to NFL.com.

We have seen this team get hot over the years at the right time. However, this team just has consistently been making the plays and decisions to lose games. There is plenty of blame to go around this year. The defense, offense and coaching staff have all had their struggles.

Maybe it has been the loss of key veteran players over the years catching up. It also doesn’t bode well how much this offense has struggled with wide receiver Tee Higgins out since it has been pretty clear they don’t plan on re-signing him.