The Bengals lost a key game in Jacksonville on Sunday, making struggling quarterback Blake Bortles look like the second coming of Aaron Rodgers. After an encouraging start to the season, Cincinnati’s defense has taken a few steps back, but their offense didn’t help them in any way against the Jaguars and things went south pretty early.
When you lose the battle for possession like the Bengals did in Week 9, 40 minutes to 20, that usually takes a huge toll on your defense. On Sunday, the Bengals’ offense had the shortest time of possession of any team in the NFL this season.