W2L4: How Bengals Find That Elusive Opening Day Win To Start 2025 On Right Foot

Bengals (9-8 in 2024, missed playoffs) at Browns (3-14 in 2024, missed playoffs) Sunday, Sept. 8 at Huntington Bank Field (Natural Grass), 1 p.m. ET, TV: FOX19 Ch. 19 FOX-WXIX-TV (Cincinnati) Kevin Kugler, Daryl Johnston, Allison Williams. Radio: Dan Hoard, Dave Lapham. WEBN-FM (102.7 FM), ESPN1530

CINCINNATI – The Bengals have spent an entire offseason talking about getting off to a fast start. This Sunday in Cleveland against the Browns, they finally get to put up or shut up.

The Bengals enter the season after a 9-8 campaign in 2024 while the Browns are in full rebuild mode after a 3-14 season. Have they learned their lesson from 2024? The Bengals need to start answering the question in the affirmative Sunday in Cleveland. And they all know it. They lost at home in a season-opening overtime shocker in 2022 to the Steelers. They lost in 2023 at Cleveland, 24-3, and weren’t competitive in the rain. And last year, they had an inexcusable 16-10 loss to the lowly Patriots at home.

It’s been well-documented that the Bengals have struggled under head coach Zac Taylor in the month of September and in the first two weeks of the season, in particular.

The Bengals have just one win in 12 tries in the first two games of the season in Taylor six seasons as head coach. They are 7-14-1 in 22 games in the month of September under Taylor. Now, as Joe Burrow would say, it’s time to “shift the narrative.”

“I don’t know that the external expectation will ever exceed the internal expectation,” Taylor said. “What we expect from ourselves is to be the best and to be at the top at the end. And so there is no external anything anybody can say or think that’s different than the pressure we put on ourselves. We put that urgency and expectation on ourself every single day. I’m excited, that’s why you do this job.”

Taylor’s Bengals started 0-3 and 1-4 in 2024 on their way to a 4-8 mark through 12 games. They rallied to win their final five games but just missed the playoffs. Coming into this season, quarterback Joe Burrow is healthy, but many have the Baltimore Ravens winning the AFC North and the Bengals only competing for an AFC wild card.

“I certainly think that the narrative surrounding our team has shifted,” Burrow said Wednesday when asked if the team has something to prove. “I’m not sure I would say most to prove. I would say that we certainly are trying to go out and win as much as we can.”

Burrow is coming off a season in which he led the NFL and set Cincinnati single-season records in completions (460), passing yards (4918) and TD passes (43). Burrow is flanked by arguably the deepest group of receivers in the NFL, led by fifth-year receiver Ja’Marr Chase. Last season, Chase became the sixth player in the Super Bowl era to claim the receiving “Triple Crown,” as he paced the league in receptions (127), receiving yards (1708) and receiving TDs (17).

The question for the Bengals comes on defense, where Lou Anarumo was replaced with Notre Dame’s Al Golden as defensive coordinator. Cincinnati struggled against the run last season and was poor in the tackling department.

The Browns, like the Bengals, re-signed their biggest name to a multi-year deal, bringing elite edge rusher Myles Garrett back on a four-year, $160 million extension.

“Yeah, Myles is extremely competitive,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “I don’t know that he needs any more motivation ever to get up and play, for games. And so, I think he treats all the games the same. He just loves to compete, and we’ll need him.

“He’s obviously a huge part of who we are. He’s a huge part of our team. He’s a huge part of our defense. And affecting the game, typically is something that gives us a chance.”

Offensively, after an offseason of turmoil and with quarterback Deshaun Watson sidelined, the Browns are starting Joe Flacco, the ninth quarterback in NFL history to start in Week 1 at the age of 40 or older.

“It seems, with how these guys are taking care of their bodies off the field, certainly the rule changes probably help the health of the quarterbacks long-term, which I think is a good thing for our league,” Stefanski said. “So, I do think that’s something that’s here to stay.”

The Bengals swept the season series in the “Battle of Ohio” in 2024 for the first time since 2017. The Bengals lead 55-48 in the series. Cincinnati has won four of the past five meetings, but the Browns have won six of the past 10. Home field has been a factor over the series, as the Bengals lead 34-18 at home, but trail 30-21 as the road club.

Cincinnati has played more games against Cleveland (103) than any foe except Pittsburgh. The Bengals have 109 all-time regular-season games against the Steelers (111 overall, including postseason). The longest winning streak for both teams is seven. The Bengals won seven straight from the second game of 2014 through the end of ’17, while the Browns won seven consecutive from the second meeting of 1992 through ’95. Since the Browns’ rebirth in 1999, the Bengals lead 31-21, with records of 18-8 as the home team and 13-13 as the visiting team.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for us,” said Taylor. “To start on the road in a divisional game right out of the gate, put your best foot forward and find a way to get a win — you set yourself up for a great start to the season. That’s about the best thing you can ask for.”

Here’s what to look for:

• When the Bengals have the ball:

Openers are always unpredictable but last year, the Bengals had no business losing to the Patriots. But they did, 16-10, in part because they lost the turnover battle, 2-0, (including Tanner Hudson’s fumble at the goal line) and because they couldn’t convert short yardage situations against the Patriots defense. And they didn’t have Tee Higgins (hamstring) and Ja’Marr Chase was coming off an unresolved contract dispute that ended late in camp. The Bengals appeared distracted and unfocused to start the season. That can’t and shouldn’t happen again. The Bengals need to make sure they don’t make the same mistakes again this year in Cleveland. Joe Burrow led touchdown drives on four of the five preseason series he played. He looks more than ready to begin the season. He’s got more weapons at his disposal than ever before in Chase, Higgins, Chase Brown, Andrei Iosivas, Mike Gesicki, Noah Fant and Samaje Perine.

• When the Browns have the ball:

Defensively, the most fascinating aspect of this game is the NFL defensive coordinator debut of Al Golden. The message all camp is don’t judge the defense on the leaky performances against Philly and Washington in the preseason. Golden will ramp up the gameplanning and signal calling come the regular season. Well, it’s time for Golden to take off the training wheels and see how the defense really looks. The Bengals boast the reigning NFL sack champion in ninth-year edge Trey Hendrickson. Hendrickson’s league-leading 17.5 sacks in 2024 matched his career high set the previous year, and his 35 combined sacks over the past two seasons are 4.5 more than any other player. In the free agency period, Cincinnati added DT T.J. Slaton Jr., a fifth-year pro who spent his first four seasons establishing himself as a run-stuffing force with the Green Bay Packers. This game will be about the Bengals not letting the Browns do what they always try to do and that is dominate time of possession in the run with the likes of Jerome Ford. The good news is that Nick Chubb is now in Houston and their back-up is rookie Dylan Sampson out of Tennessee. The Bengals want to put pressure on Joe Flacco, who is Cleveland’s starting quarterback ahead of Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.

• Bottom Line:

The Browns, on paper, don’t have the talent to stay with the Bengals. But everyone knows the Browns play the Bengals tough because tough is in their DNA. It’s time for the Bengals to show they’re tough, too. There’s an urgency this year that wasn’t there last season or the season before – when they lost in Cleveland in the rain. Don’t let Myles Garrett and rookie Mason Graham wreck your offensive line and don’t allow Jerome Ford to channel his inner-Jim Brown/Ernest Byner/Nick Chubb and the Bengals should be able to record their first regulation win in a season opener since 2018 in Indianapolis and their first overall since 2021 in overtime against Minnesota. Here’s banking on the sense that the Bengals have learned their lesson finally and don’t commit as many silly mistakes as the Browns in Week 1.

Bengals 27, Browns 18