Week 1 - Vikings @ Bengals Support Group

The Bengals tried to give their fans heart attacks.

Let’s recap:

They squandered a 21-7 second-half lead.
At one point, Joe Burrow limped off the field.
They went for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 30 and failed.
They took the ball out of Joe Burrow’s hands and ran it on a third-and-4 late in the fourth. Joe Mixon got stopped, and the Vikings drove for the score-tying field goal.
They passed the ball on fourth-and-1 with 39 seconds left in overtime, converted and kicked the winning field goal.

Early on, it felt like Zac Taylor was trying to protect Burrow. The Bengals passed the ball just 34.6 percent of the time on early downs while the score was close. That was the most run-heavy approach of any team in Week 1. It will be interesting to see if that rate jumps in the weeks ahead. It may depend on how Taylor’s feeling about the offensive line.

The final “leak” call to C.J. Uzomah was brilliant, and if you’re a Bengals fan, this game offered a vision of what the upside for this team could look like with Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

The Vikings creatively found ways to inflict pain on their fan base.

After a long offseason, their first offensive drive included three false starts and a holding penalty. I thought Mike Zimmer might chuck his headset and walk off the field then and there.

Overall, the Vikings had 12 penalties for 116 yards. Kirk Cousins had a typical Kirk Cousins game. He threw for 351 yards and completed more than 70 percent of his attempts. He also crumbled under pressure and consistently threw short of the sticks. Per Next Gen Stats, Cousins’ average pass was 5.4 yards short of the first-down marker. That ranked second-to-last among Week 1 starters.

The Vikings’ defense is going to improve as the season progresses, but their offense could be a tough watch.

This looked like a different version of Teddy Bridgewater — and Vic Fangio?

The Broncos’ formula for success coming into this season seemed to be to build a competent offense and a great defense. But in their win against the Giants, the offense was legitimately good — and exciting! The box score numbers for Bridgewater were not eye-popping. He was 28-for-36 for 264 yards and a pair of touchdowns. But when he wasn’t spraying the ball with pinpoint accuracy to all levels of the field, he was improvising and making second-reaction plays.



Broncos tight end Albert Okwuegbunam fumbled at the Giants’ 4, and wide receiver KJ Hamler dropped what should have been an easy 50-yard touchdown. In other words, the Broncos could have easily put up more than 27 points.

Fangio, meanwhile, had been one of the NFL’s most conservative coaches with in-game decision-making, but he went for it on fourth down three times. Has he seen the light? Or has he just been waiting for a competent offense to be more aggressive? I guess we’ll find out. With the Jaguars and Jets up next, the Broncos have a chance to get off to a 3-0 start.