Look Out Because The Bengals Are On Fire And We've Seen Before What They Do When They Get This Way
What we saw from the Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers on Sunday are two teams with Super Bowl aspirations headed in polar opposite directions.
The Bengals beat the Niners, 31-17, at Levi's Stadium.
But the score here is not the story. The direction these teams are on now is the thing.
The Bengals have won three consecutive games. And that's a big deal for a team that opened the season with two consecutive losses and three losses in their first three games.
"It was a great team win," quarterback Joe Burrow said.
"That's our first real complete game by our team," coach Zac Taylor said. "That's how we're meant to play ... This is November football for us. We go on the road and play the 49ers, a team that's had a ton of success over the last couple of years, and we have a ton of respect for."
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 29: Joe Mixon #28 of the Cincinnati Bengals celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the fourth quarter of the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on October 29, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Bengals Joe Burrow Lights Up 49ers
We have seen in the past when the Bengals get hot, they get really, really hot. Last year they started the season with an unremarkable 4-4 record. And then strung together 10 consecutive wins that carried them into the AFC Championship Game.
So, not surprisingly, that experience has given this year's team ideas about repeating the feat.
"This is the standard," Burrow said. "And, like I said, it wasn't perfect. There's still lots to get better at and we're going to. So we just have to keep stacking days like this together. It was a great day."
He was speaking about the entire team. He could have as easily been speaking about himself.
Burrow completed 28 of 32 passes for 283 yards. He threw three TD passes without an interception. At one point Burrow completed 19 consecutive passes.
And, assuming you do not have a calculator on hand, let me help you with the completion percentage: Burrow delivered a whopping 87.5 percent completion percentage.
"I was able to put the ball, for the most part all day, in the right spot," Burrow said almost in matter of fact manner.
Burrow also was able to turn difficult moments into positive plays. He rushed for 43 yards because he was able to vacate the pass pocket when pressured and convert pass downs into first downs. That hadn't been possible early in the season when Burrow was hobbled by a calf injury that made him mostly immobile in the pocket.
"I worked really hard on that all offseason," Burrow said. "And for four or five weeks I haven't been able to really show that. So when you see hard work pay off, it's exciting."
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 29: Brock Purdy #13 of the San Francisco 49ers looks to throw a pass during the third quarter of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Levi's Stadium on October 29, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
49ers Loss To Bengals Has Them Searching
The 49ers, meanwhile, lost their third consecutive game. And that also is a big deal considering the they were a growing Super Bowl favorite the first five weeks of the season when they not only won all five but scored 30 points or more in four and 42 points in the other game.
It was clearly a dominant start.
And now it's, well, not that. Now there are issues.
The first of those concerns is the recent play of quarterback Brock Purdy.
Purdy had some struggles during training camp, throwing a good number of interceptions in those practices. That was seemingly forgotten once the season began because Purdy didn't throw an interception the first five games of the season.
And since we've been seeing some regression to the mean. Purdy threw three picks the previous two games and then threw two more Sunday. Those two more came on consecutive fourth-quarter throws when this was a one-score game that was still being decided.
So maybe those training camp interceptions were a problem after all.
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 29: Brock Purdy #13 of the San Francisco 49ers is tackled by Logan Wilson #55 of the Cincinnati Bengals during the third quarter of the game at Levi's Stadium on October 29, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Purdy Interceptions A Growing Issue For Niners
"If it's not there, try to make something happen but don't force it," Purdy said, explaining what he should have been doing on his errant throws. "Clearly towards the end of the game, that's what I was doing, trying to force things and not seeing things clearly."
The question with the 49ers now is where does this slide stop?
They still have a lot of talent. And receiver Deebo Samuel and left tackle Trent Williams, both inactive Sunday because of injuries, will eventually get back in the lineup. The club has a bye week coming up but the picture we have heading into that next week after this game is clear:
The Bengals are arrow up.
And the 49ers are in significant trouble.
"Going into the bye week you want to win and create some momentum for the second half of the season," Purdy said. "To have a loss like that, you know, it hurts. Now we have to wait 14 days for our next shot and it hurts.
"We have a bad taste in our mouth."