Quarterback Joe Burrow said last month “this is it” about it being the Cincinnati Bengals’ season to win the Super Bowl.
Well, that was it on Sunday at sunny and steamy Paycor Stadium. That was how winning teams play.
The Bengals actually played defense.
Cincinnati beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 33-27, in the season opener because the Bengals constantly pressured the quarterback, tackled better, forced turnovers and capitalized on them.
And that – and only that – is how the Bengals are going to have a shot at fulfilling Burrow’s now-or-never mentality of bringing Cincinnati its first Lombardi Trophy. The Bengals built a 21-3 lead almost solely on the strength of their defense, forcing fumbles on three consecutive drives for the first time in 19
years and turning every one of those turnovers into touchdowns.
So far, so good for that $125 million offseason investment to overhaul the defense. Yeah, it’s just Week 1. But who cares? It’s about time the blueprint worked in a season opener. It was the most impressive season-opening performance in eighth-year coach Zac Taylor’s tenure. The Bengals won a season opener for just the third time under Taylor, and good for him and his team.
It’s so nice to not be talking about another season-opening stinker. And it’s so nice to not be talking about Taylor’s job status today.
Yeah, sure, the Bengals struggled to bury the Bucs after building that 17-point lead on Chase Brown’s 5-yard touchdown run with 5:32 left in the first half. But let the coaches worry about fixing the little things.
See the bigger picture. This is exactly the kind of game the Bengals struggled to win throughout the 2024 and 2025 seasons. How many times were the Bengals on the wrong side of one-score – and one-point – games like this because they couldn’t get a key stop or the offense sputtered late and couldn’t play keep-away?
All in the past now. Hopefully. Onward and upward. Hopefully. The defense overall forced four fumbles that led to 24 points. And Burrow and the offense did a fantastic job of methodically moving the ball and running out the clock to secure the Bengals' second straight season-opening win.
How many Bengals fans were thinking “here we go again” when Mayfield scored on a 9-yard run with 3 minutes and 19 seconds left? Not this time. There’s a new narrative around town. It may very well be a new day for Who Dey.
“We found a way,” Taylor said. “Something we’ve talked about for a long time is closing this thing out.”
How fun was that to watch the defense flying around and making plays? And it was a nice mix of the newly acquired veteran guys and the previously underachieving returning guys who made big plays.
Myles Murphy and Barrett Carter, among the most maligned players last season, relentlessly pursued Mayfield, sacked him and forced a fumble.
Demetrius Knight Jr., another one of the most maligned players in 2025, scooped up the ball and sprinted 27 yards for the Bengals’ first touchdown of the season. That was the Bengals’ first fumble recovery return for a TD since Sam Hubbard’s epic, 99-yard scoop-and-score in the 2022 playoffs against Baltimore.
Coincidentally, the 2022 season was the last time the Bengals had a decent defense. Missed tackles, poor angles, lackluster leadership, subpar talent and an inability to cover opposing tight ends played a big role in Cincinnati missing the playoffs the last three seasons. Oops. Let’s not wallow in the past.
Anyway, guess who helped make that big play happen on Sunday? Dexter Lawrence, the guy the Bengals gave up a top-10 draft pick to acquire in a trade with the New York Giants. The Pro Bowl defensive tackle’s name didn’t show up in the stats on that play, but Lawrence got a nice push up the middle to draw extra blocking attention and forced Mayfield to scramble toward the Bengals' sideline.
It was the other two veteran defensive difference makers the Bengals picked up who made the big play on the next fumble. Safety Bryan Cook, who has Super Bowl rings from his days in Kansas City, used his helmet as a battering ram to jar the ball out of Bucky Irving’s arms. Boye Mafe, who has a Super Bowl ring from his days in Seattle, pounced on the ball.
Burrow then drove the Bengals 33 yards for another TD with 1:48 left in the first quarter.
Carter forced the next fumble as Mayfield rushed ahead to seemingly set up the Bucs for a touchdown. The ball bounced into the end zone. Cook recovered for a touchback. The orange-clad, sold-out crowd erupted, undoubtedly shocked to see their team making big-time plays on defense.
It was the first time the Bengals had forced fumbles on three consecutive series since the season-opening win against Baltimore in 2007. Coincidentally, those fumbles also came on the opponents' second, third and fourth series of the game.
“We came into this game saying we’ve got to make a statement,” Mafe told The Enquirer's Pat Brennan. “We’ve got to know who we are as a defense, and you felt it today. And it wasn’t just one person. It was the whole room.”
Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Did Cincinnati Bengals defense set new-day tone? | Williams
