Explosive Plays Finally Blow Up Bengals’ Season as Chiefs Burn Down the Defense

It was a little more than 14 minutes into the season when the Cincinnati Bengals‘ defense gave up its first explosive play, and the aftershocks rippled through the structure for another three and a half months before finally causing a collapse hours before the New Year.

The Bengals went into their gotta-have-it Week 17 game in Kansas City on Sunday as the owners (victims?) of the second-most explosive plays – rushes of 12+ yards or passes of 16+ yards — allowed with 129 to the Commanders’ 132.

And that fallibility — along with a few other season-long ones such as short-yardage woes, stopping blitzes, and injuries to key players — ultimately ended their playoff hopes in a 25-17 loss to the Chiefs on the same field where their Super Bowl dreams died in the AFC Championship Game last year.

Resolutions for 2024 Bengals Defense Are Clear

A Kansas City offense that had been struggling to find explosives got right at the Bengals’ expense with six plays of 20 yards or more – one shy of the Chiefs’ season high.

For the Bengals, it was the ninth time in 16 games they’d given up at least six plays of 20+ yards.

“Big plays are always a big factor,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. “Something we have to do better at.”

The Chiefs needed just four plays to rip off a big one. Running back Isiah Pacheco’s 35-yard run to the Cincinnati 10-yard line led to an eight-yard Patrick Mahomes scoring strike to Pacheco for the team’s only touchdown of the game.

When the Bengals let safeties Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell walk in free agency, the team thought it would be a matter of when, not if, the replacements could get on a similar level and not have communication issues be a problem.

But in Week 17, they still were.

“When we communicate, we play our best ball. There’s not confusion on the field. It looks like sound football,” said cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt, who returned to action tonight after missing four games with an ankle injury.

“But when somebody motions and we don’t know what’s goin’ on or anything, and the back end especially, we’ve got to talk,” he added. “And when we don’t talk, that’s how big plays happen.”

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Taylor-Britt likely was referring to the game’s biggest play, a 67-yard pass from Mahomes to Rashee Rice late in the third quarter. Rice got behind Taylor-Britt on the edge, and there was no help over the top.

That play was part of back-to-back drives the Chiefs began at their own nine-yard line and still found a way to score thanks to big plays. On the previous one, Mahomes hit Justin Watson for 44 yards.

Both drives led to field goals, a 27-yarder that cut the Cincinnati lead to 17-16, and a 24-yarder after the big bomb to Rice that gave Kansas City the lead for good at 19-17 with 14:09 left in the game.

“Somebody doing the wrong job is just stuff we can fix,” Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton said. “We just never fixed it.

“Obviously we brought in some new guys, but that’s still no excuse,” he added. “Guys like me and (Chidobe Awuzie), we definitely have to take them under our arm and make sure those young guys are locked in and know what they have to do in a certain situation.”

It’s clear what the defense’s New Year’s Resolution needs to be.

Even with Joe Burrow back in 2024 and the offense capable of winning any shootout, the Bengals cannot continue to play defense the way they did in 2023 if they want to avoid being in the same position where they’re talking about the season being over before the season is over.

“We’re a talented defense,” Hilton said. “We take the ball away. But we give up so many explosive plays, our taking the ball away don’t mean a damn thing.”

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