The Bengals have a fun set of young players who made a great postseason run. A game here or there, and they’d be Super Bowl champions. When you have a quarterback like Joe Burrow, you don’t have to take a step back. It seems some warning signs were ignored. The Bengals are off to a rough start this season. They are the first team in the Super Bowl era to start 0-2 despite being favored by at least seven points in each of their first two games. The losses came from the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys, who were backed up by Mitchell Trubisky and Cooper Rush. The Bengals offense, which is loaded with talent, turned it over five times in Week 1 and managed one touchdown in Week 2. There was a narrative sequence on Sunday. The Bengals tied the Cowboys 17-17 and the defense forced a punt. Barrow took the ball to himself at the 8 with 2:13 to go. It was well out of field goal range, but quarterbacks like Barrow are expected to win the game there. The Bengals are supposed to be a high-powered offense that can move up and down the field when needed. Instead, the Bengals went three and out, with three completions that gained just 8 yards. The Bengals didn’t even do a decent job running some time off the clock. Dallas had more than enough time to score a game-winning goal. The Bengals weren’t good. They don’t get enough explosive plays down the field, which has been a feature of the 2021 season. Joe Mixon, a very good running back, is averaging 3 yards per carry. The offensive line gets blamed for the 13 sacks allowed in two games, but it’s not all the line’s fault. The Bengals aren’t seeing a return on their line investment this offseason, but Burrow is holding the ball too long and that’s contributing to the problem. And sacks are a big reason why Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins can’t catch deep down the field. The story continues It was tough to see the Bengals offense so dysfunctional through two games, but the slow start wasn’t entirely unexpected. The Super Bowl hangover is real, especially for the losing team. It’s a long season and it’s hard to climb the mountain again. There’s a reason only one team since the 1993 Buffalo Bills has made it to the Super Bowl after missing out the previous season. Of the first 55 teams to lose a Super Bowl, 17 didn’t even make the playoffs the following season. The Bengals may have been particularly vulnerable. He was 7-6 at one point last season. They won six of seven after that, but five of those wins were by seven points or less. It’s hard to maintain that. Two weeks into this season, the Bengals look like they were a good but not great team last season that went on a lucky streak of close wins. Talent exists to change things quickly. But this season couldn’t have started much worse for the reigning AFC champions. They have already dug a significant hole. Joe Burrow and the Bengals are off to an 0-2 start this season. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) Here are the power rankings after Week 2 of the NFL season: It’s really surprising that the Falcons aren’t using Kyle Pitts in more creative ways. He had the same two-catch, 19-yard stat line in both games. Maybe if they used one of the most talented tight ends in football more, they could have completed this 28-3 comeback instead of falling short. Rookie cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. he wasn’t perfect, but it’s clear the Texans made a very good choice when they took him third overall. As long as Stingley stays healthy, he will be a very good player. You can already see the potential in his best works. Panthers upcoming schedule: vs. Saints, vs. Cardinals, vs. 49ers, at Rams, vs. Buccaneers. At least most of those games are at home, but the Panthers probably won’t be favored in any of them. That can turn into 0-7 in a hurry. And it looks like Matt Rhule is already in trouble. Here is the list of Bears wide receivers who have recorded a reception this season: Equanimeous St. Brown, three catches for 57 yards Dante Pettis, one catch for 51 yards Byron Pringle, one catch for 22 yards Darnell Mooney, two catches for 4 yards This is. Seven catches for 134 yards in two games. One game was played in a freak storm, but it’s still a concern. Mooney especially needs to be involved a lot more. It should be full speed ahead for Garrett Wilson, and we’ll look back at Week 1 and wonder why the Jets didn’t feature him in that game as well. The 10th overall draft pick looked terrific Sunday, with 102 yards on eight catches. Between Wilson, Elijah Moore and Corey Davis, there is more than enough for Zach Wilson to work with when he returns. The Seahawks offense hasn’t scored a touchdown in six quarters. Whatever got into Geno Smith in the first half of Game 1 against Denver probably won’t come back. The Seahawks are lucky the Broncos were terrible from the goal line and didn’t manage the game well in the first game, because wins will be very hard to come by. The Titans got blown out by the Bills and they won’t be the last team to be embarrassed by Buffalo. However, this 0-2 start was very bad. I’m not sure Mike Vrabel can change that. The only upside is that the rest of the AFC South might be mediocre or worse. All right, Trevor Lawrence. This is better. Lawrence missed too many shots in Week 1 and it looked like an extension of his rookie season. Then in Week 2 he made several big shots, including several off the platform, in a very good win for the Jags. It helps to have Christian Kirk, who is still overpaid but a great addition to the offense. The number of explosive plays the Governors allowed to the Lions on Sunday was alarming. Washington had a very good defense two seasons ago, but that seems long gone. They are not going to have much success this season trying to win shots. The main question is how long the Steelers stick with Mitchell Trubisky. The offense hasn’t looked good yet. It’s not all his fault, but everyone knows that rookie first-round pick Kenny Pickett is waiting behind him. The Steelers play in Cleveland on Thursday in what will likely be a low-scoring game, and there will be calls for a QB change if there is another poor outing from the offense. The Giants next two games are against the Cowboys and Bears at home. Could we be looking at a 4-0 start for Brian Daboll? The Giants may not be that good, but strange things can happen when a team gains a little confidence early in the season. The Lions might have a very good offense. They average 35.5 points per game. Amon-Ra St. Brown is a star receiver. D’Andre Swift is a big running back. But what really gives the Lions life on offense is an elite line. They won’t continue to put up 35+ points every week, but they will be a lot of fun to watch. Micah Parsons is even better than last season. If he stays healthy, he looks poised to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year. If Cooper Rush plays like he did in Sunday’s win over the Bengals, the defense will keep Dallas in games. Maybe he’ll be fine until Dak Prescott comes back. DeVante Parker has one catch for nine yards in two plays. That probably wasn’t what the team had in mind when they traded for Parker this offseason. Parker has never been known for his consistency, but his quiet start probably says more about a poor Patriots offense than he does. There should never be another game in which DaVante Adams has two catches and 12 yards. It’s not like the Cardinals have a lockdown cornerback. It was just a failure to not get Adams the ball more and is one reason the Raiders suffered a truly miserable loss after leading 20-0 at halftime. The Cardinals are confusing. They looked awful for the first six quarters of the season. Maybe even the first seven. They had a crazy comeback against the Raiders that they won in overtime. Does that mean they’ve turned the corner? Or was it just a blip on an otherwise bad start? The Saints offense has been poor except for the fourth quarter against the Falcons and some garbage time against the Buccaneers. He has 13 points from the first to the third quarter of his season. That’s not a great trend, and we didn’t see Jameis Winston back into forcing interceptions against the Bucs either. The Bengals take on the Jets this week, and if that’s not a win, then there are real problems. But the next three games are against the Dolphins, at the Ravens, at the Saints. The Bengals need to fix their issues in a hurry, or this season they could get away with it. The Colts offense clearly won’t be very good without Michael Pittman Jr. in the composition. Hopefully he’ll be back in Week 3. The question is, are the struggles on Sunday entirely due to injuries or is there real concern that Matt Ryan will have a terrible season? Jacoby Brissett was really, really good for Cleveland on Sunday. He was 22-of-27 for 229 yards. His only interception came in the final seconds when the Browns had to press to get within field distance. It’s not Brissett’s fault the Browns’ defense gave up two touchdowns in the final two minutes or that special teams failed to recover an onside kick. Brissett won’t be great, but Cleveland will get it if he continues to play like he did Sunday. No need to pile on Nathaniel Hackett anymore. which has been enough. It is justified after all the organizational mistakes through two games. We’ll assume it will be fixed, to some extent. What may be more troubling is that the offense has had some rough times. Russell Wilson didn’t look comfortable on Sunday. Injuries didn’t help. Play-caller Hackett needs to get better in that aspect as well. Kirk Cousins struggled and looked awful in Monday night’s loss to Philadelphia. We’ve seen this from him before. That’s no reason to give up on the Vikings being good this season. The Eagles might be just that…
