By the morning after the season-opening win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Cincinnati Bengals coaching staff had already turned the page to the Houston Texans, their Sept. 20 opponent. By around 3 p.m. on Sept. 14, defensive coordinator Al Golden said he was already partway through his video analysis of Texans quarterback CJ Stroud.
The Bengals' game plan for Week 2 will be informed by what was learned in Week 1, which can be a chaotic and unpredictable challenge given the infusion of rookie talent, and that most teams haven't tackled or played at full speed since their final game last season.
In the 33-27 victory, the Bengals learned plenty about themselves. Most of the learnings were at least encouraging. It was a win after all. But corrections
still need to be made.
These are the biggest lessons Cincinnati learned from Week 1:
Bengals defense still needs to improve tackling
There's no question the Bengals defense strung together a highlight reel's worth of big moments. There were four takeaways via fumble recoveries, four sacks, a defensive touchdown (which equaled the 2025 Bengals for defensive touchdowns, by the way).
And yet the Buccaneers didn't punt. If the visitors weren't handing the ball back to Cincinnati, they were finding a way to score. Keeping in mind that Golden said he'd always prefer a turnover to a punt, Tampa Bay still managed four scoring drives, plus a defensive touchdown of its own.
It's also worth noting Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield nearly scored in the first quarter on a run prior to linebacker Barrett Carter punching out the ball for an eventual Cincinnati recovery. Late in regulation, Carter whiffed on a similar Mayfield scamper, and he found the end zone. That score, plus the point-after, made it a six-point game, so missed tackles proved costly.
Cincinnati's much-scrutinized starting linebacker duo of Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. accounted for some of the game's biggest plays but also combined for six missed tackles (three apiece). Across the entire defensive roster, Pro Football Focus identified 13 total missed tackles.
Head coach Zac Taylor said there were some aspects of tackling that needed to be cleaned up. Given that it was a Week 1 game, Golden said he was pleased with that area.
"I am encouraged by the tackling. Number one, I think (running back Irving) Bucky is as elusive a lateral step as there is, and I think he’s done a great job," Golden said. "Really good cutback runner. Shifty. (Running back Kenneth) Gainwell, with his elusiveness in space, same thing. ... A spin on one of the screens. ... There are some things we can be better at, but overall really pleased."
Bengals offensive line kept Joe Burrow on his feet almost all day
Cincinnati's offensive line is charged with keeping quarterback Joe Burrow upright, and that might be the most important task for any unit on the team. For 2026, all the starters along the line were retained when the club resigned Dalton Risner. It did that because 2025 was thought to be the organization's best offensive line since Burrow was drafted in 2020.
Through one game in 2026, the offensive line still looks like the best Burrow's had. The protection was such that offensive line play almost felt like an afterthought while the game was in progress.
Pro Football Focus reported Burrow was the least-pressured quarterback across the NFL in Week 1 (with the Sept. 14 Monday Night Football game between the Broncos and Chief still to be played). The Bengals only allowed pressure on 19% of Burrow's drop-backs. Burrow faced pressure seven times in the game.
Two of the pressures came from under-center plays, while shotgun plays resulted in pressure five times.
Burrow was sacked once, but Amarius Mims didn't allow ballyhooed rookie Reuben Bain Jr. to get anywhere close to Burrow over the course of 38 drop-backs.
"We did a good job of prepping for those guys," Mims said. "We had a long Week 1 prep, so we had three weeks to really get on these guys and we did some good things. ... I knew I had to protect my guy, and I did everything in my power to not let (Bain) affect the game."
In the run game, the offensive line came through with opening big holes at timely moments. The team only combined for 106 yards with Chase Brown taking the bulk of those (56 on 16 carries), but Brown also scored a rushing touchdown. The line also cleared pathways on the crucial, final drive on which the Bengals bled out the final 3:14.
Ja'Marr Chase had just two catches, and the Bengals still won? How?
Most game plans drawn up by the Bengals include Ja'Marr Chase to a large degree. Most of Cincinnati's wins end up with Chase as a huge factor, but that wasn't the case against the Buccaneers as Chase only had two catches on four targets and 12 yards.
(For that matter, Tee Higgins didn't have a huge day either; he had three catches on six targets and 59 yards, including a drive-extending leap for a reception on the final drive of the game.)
There's an important upside to Chase (and Higgins) having quieter games, and it's that the Bengals had enough skill players on offense to make the plays necessary to beat what most figure to be a competitive Tampa Bay team that will challenge for the postseason.
Tight end Mike Gesicki led the offense with five receptions on seven targets for 78 yards. On top of Brown's 56 rushing yards, he had five catches for 22 yards. Seven Bengals had multiple receptions.
The Bengals' next opponent, the Houston Texans, are going to think hard about Cincinnati's offense accounting for 26 points and winning on a day when Chase (and Higgins) didn't post their typical eye-popping stat lines.
No counting stats for Dexter Lawrence? No problem
In his Bengals regular-season debut, Dexter Lawrence didn't post any traditional counting stats and was still one of the most important players on the field.
Just like the Bengals planned it. No, really. This is what they wanted and expected when they swapped the No. 10 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft for Lawrence in an April trade with the New York Giants.
Lawrence didn't record a tackle against Tampa Bay, let alone a sack. He had one quarterback hit. Didn't matter. The presence of the 6-foot-5, 350-pounder was still immense.
That started with Lawrence winning his individual matchup in the trenches 36% of the time, according to PFF. That was the best percentage among defensive linemen in the NFL for Week 1.
Taylor described Lawrence's impact during the win over the Buccaneers as big.
"It's not always going to show up on the stat sheet. It shows up because of the production a lot of guys around him get oftentimes," Taylor said. "And he still was in there and made his presence felt, and Baker had to try to get away from him a couple times. Had some runs he really affected as well. But as much as anything, you just see the production that comes to other people because of the attention he draws."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Four lessons learned from Bengals win vs. Buccaneers
