Day 10 of Cincinnati Bengals training camp was a crucial one, and Mother Nature did her best to try to derail it.
"It felt like the world was about to end for 30 seconds there," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said.
Day 10 was the penultimate day of preparation for preseason test No. 1 − the Thursday, Aug 13 home game against the Detroit Lions, and the whole world is going to learn a lot about the Bengals that night.
Is the Cincinnati defense actually as good as they've looked in camp practices, or is a lackadaisical Bengals offense inflating our sense of defensive coordinator Al Golden's unit?
Update: Practice whistles for a move to the practice bubble. pic.twitter.com/3x82AqEL06
— Pat Brennan (@PBrennanENQ) August 11, 2026
We expect quarterback Joe Burrow to be in lockstep with star receivers
Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, but have they achieved that yet?
The Bengals couldn't afford to let the ominous-looking clouds scare them off the day's to-do list. They'd already moved the practice up 30 minutes to try to avoid the weather, but the storms found them anyway. So, when the wind arrived in Downtown Cincinnati and equipment started getting tossed in the stiff gusts, the Bengals retreated from their lush, green practice fields to their practice bubble on West Mehring Way.
The bubble is a few hundred feet west from a gated ramp exit on Mehring Way, and the team checked a few final items off their collective to-do list ahead of Thursday's contest at Paycor Stadium.
"I was happy," Taylor said. "I was hoping for about 20 more minutes (on the grass), but I think it was very clear when things start blowing over that you got to get out of there."
Here's what we learned from the final media access prior to the Bengals' long-awaited preseason opener against Detroit:
Was there a clear winner between Bengals offense, defense ahead of Lions game?
Both the offense and defense had their moments during 11-on-11 play
Jordan Battle picked off Burrow on a deep ball. With 2026 fourth-round draft pick Connor Lew playing center, a shotgun snap to Burrow ended up rolling around in the backfield.
The defense seemed to be excited about how they played the offense's run game. But later, Burrow found Andrei Iosivas on a crossing route followed by a short scamper into the end zone.
Higgins also reeled in a circus, one-handed catch while keeping his feet in play before he ran out of bounds and curled his run to avoid hitting the side wall of the practice bubble.
The offense and defense seemed to play to a stalemate, and maybe that's a good sign ahead of Preseason Game No. 1.
"I think it's been really physical training camp," Taylor said. "I think as a head coach, there's been a lot to be excited about when I walk off the field. Sometimes, I think each coordinator is probably frustrated with their day. But I think that there's been a lot of improvement."
What to watch for in Bengals-Lions game
Taylor loosely previewed what the Bengals' plan was personnel-wise for the game against Detroit. Now, the available players will attempt to get an end-product from all the work they've put in this year, from organized team activities to the first couple weeks of camp.
Following Bengals-Lions, there will be knee-jerk reactions and overreactions galore on Friday, Aug. 14. It's also possible fans and media members get the wrong impression of the team.
Here's what you should be hoping to see, and not see:
- No injuries. To anyone.
- A clean game with no offensive turnovers and minimal penalties.
- Signs of cohesion from the first-team offense.
- Similar to the offense, signs of a defense bonding together and pointed in a better trajectory than last year's defense.
"So, now we expect to be very clean moving forward," Taylor said. "And usually that starts with this game. You get a chance now to breathe a little bit for the three days leading up to this game where we focus on the Detroit install and what we're going to do against Detroit. It's usually a lot simpler in preseason Game 1 than what training camp has been so far.
"But then once you get through this game, we're repeating information. We expect our guys to be clean. And so I'm looking forward to seeing how our guys respond to that."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Takeaways: What the Bengals are saying going into game vs. Lions
