Five Takeaways From the Cincinnati Bengals' Week 1 Loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers

Cincinnati lost a sloppy game in overtime on Sunday.

In extremely disappointing fashion, the Cincinnati Bengals dropped the season opener to the Pittsburgh Steelers 23-20 on Sunday afternoon. 

It's extremely tough to defeat a division rival four-straight times and the Bengals learned that yesterday. Despite being heavy favorites, Cincinnati could not overcome their self inflicted wounds to take down Pittsburgh. 

Check out our five takeaways from Sunday's game below:

Worst Half of Joe Burrow's Career

Cara Owsley-USA TODAY Sports

From the first play of the game, it seemed like it may be a long day for Burrow and the offense. Cam Heyward was able to beat Cordell Volson for a sack. Instead of overcoming that, Burrow was late and threw a duck that Minkah Fitzpatrick took back to the house for a 31-yard touchdown

Burrow finished the day with four interceptions, took seven sacks, and had a 61.7 passer rating. He also ended the day with -0.14 EPA per play and -10 total EPA. For context, Mitch Trubisky finished with -0.09 EPA per play and -3.6 EPA for doing essentially nothing. Out of the six first half drives, Burrow had a turnover on four of them.

Burrow was also heavily at fault for some of the sacks that were taken in this game. Despite a fairly average pressure rate, the Steelers were able to bring him down seven times in Sunday's contest. He spent too long big game hunting, rather than trying to control the ball and work underneath.

We shouldn't see a game this bad from the Bengals' signal-caller again, but the first half was as bad as it gets. He was consistently late on his throws, misread the defense, and did not play to his ability. Burrow cannot try to gun throws in or still fit them when he's late due to his arm strength. That was one of the primary causes of turnovers yesterday.

Defense Stays Hot

Sam Greene-USA TODAY Sports

While the Steelers' offense is a bit of a joke, the Bengals' defense looked tremendous on Sunday.

They held the Steelers to 10 points, despite the Bengals' offense repeatedly handing the Steelers great field position. The offense also spotted Pittsburgh their first seven points on Fitzpatrick's pick-six. The defense was able to force three 3-and-out's from the Steelers in the first half and then kept the team in the game in the second half when they forced five punts.

In the playoffs, it was the defense that carried the offense to the Super Bowl and today it looked to be more of the same. While the defense didn't force a turnover, they played their hearts out despite the offense doing everything in its power to give Pittsburgh points.

If the Bengals' defense can play this well throughout the season, then this team will be one to reckon with.

Offensive Line Needs Time

Cara Owsley-USA TODAY Sports

This offensive line looked rough as a unit. In the run game, they had miscommunication issues on quite a few plays. Joe Mixon had an incredible game considering the blocking that he was given on Sunday.

When it comes to pass protection, La'el Collins was clearly rusty after only a few practices this offseason. He faced the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, so this was to be expected. Volson looked like a rookie going against Heyward. The one surprise was Jonah Williams struggling with Alex Highsmith, but Williams has a body of work that makes me believe that he will be OK for the season. Alex Cappa seemed to hit the ground running as the best offensive lineman of the day and Ted Karras played pretty well as a pass protector.

The offensive line will have better days. They looked like a unit that hasn't practiced enough against what could be the best front in the entire NFL.

Snap Count Takeaways

Sam Greene-USA TODAY Sports

After all of the excitement this offseason, Dax Hill played just six snaps on defense and Chris Evans didn't take the field on offense. Just about everyone who writes, watches, or enjoys the Bengals pontificated on how they were going to use their swiss army knife first round pick and the Bengals responded by barely using him.

He will probably see an increase in usage over time, but it was a deflating game for all of the excitement that came with the idea of big dime and utilizing three safety sets.

When it comes to Evans, this is just his role on the team. Samaje Perine is the backup running back and will always play ahead of Evans. Perine did a good job in pass protection, which is his primary job. You could argue that maybe Evans should have been split out wide in some of the 11 personnel empty sets, but it's clearly Perine's job. 

He's too reliable as a pass protector to lose these snaps to Evans, who they clearly do not trust in that role.

I think some of the hype is warranted, but we have to take his ability with a grain of salt. He's a late round pick that has flashed talent. The Bengals value Perine's consistency in pass protection and in the run game more than they value the splash plays and flashes of talent from Evans.

Clairvoyance of Turnover Differential

Kareem Elgazzar-USA TODAY Sports

Last season, the Bengals were 1-5 when they lost the turnover battle. In 2020 they were 0-9 when they lost the turnover battle. Now in 2022, they are 0-1 in such games.

Giving up good field possession, losing at least one extra drive on offense, and the momentum of a turnover all lead to poor results for the team. The Bengals gave up 5 possessions on offense. They only had 12 drives in regulation. Giving up nearly half of your drives because of avoidable mistakes is absolutely abysmal. Yet, despite that, the team would have won with a healthy long snapper because of how good the defense was on Sunday.

The Bengals and Joe Burrow will need to protect the ball better in the coming weeks because this is unacceptable. Winning the turnover battle is crucial to winning football games.

For more on the Bengals, watch the video below and subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

Make sure you bookmark All Bengals for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!

You May Also Like:

Joe Burrow and Bengals Not Panicking Despite Frustrating Loss

Snap Count Breakdown: Thoughts on Dax Hill, Ja'Marr Chase and Others

Walkoff Thoughts: Joe Burrow, Zac Taylor Struggle in Opener Vs Steelers

Dak Prescott Injures Hand, Won't Play Against Bengals in Week 2

Winners and Losers From Bengals' Overtime Loss to Steelers

Bengals Drop Season Opener to Steelers

Four Veteran Offensive Linemen Bengals Could Sign

Jessie Bates Congratulates Derwin James After Record Extension

Joe Burrow Downplays Being on Cover of Sports Illustrated

Mike Hilton on Ja'Marr Chase: "You Can't Stop Him"

Bengals Make Flurry of Roster Moves, Add Three Players

Bengals Film Room: Dax Hill Impressed This Preseason

Four Thoughts on Bengals' Initial 53-man Roster

-----

Be sure to keep it locked on All Bengals all the time!

Subscribe to the All Bengals YouTube channel

Follow AllBengals on Twitter: @AllBengals

Like Our FaceBook Page

Subscribe and follow the ONLY Daily Bengals Podcast

Follow on TikTok