Lions get embarrassed in punchless loss to the Bengals

Through the first five weeks, the Detroit Lions had proven to be a competitive team. Even in the losses, there was fight from Dan Campbell’s crew. Every game came down to one key second-half possession.

That was not the case in Ford Field in Week 6. The Cincinnati Bengals seized control early and cruised to an easy 34-11 road win over a Lions team that looked as bad as they have for a full 60 minutes in years.

This is not a game anyone in Detroit will want to remember. The offense was completely overmatched by the Bengals defense. A decided lack of aggression from QB Jared Goff played into Cincinnati’s hands, but there is more than enough blame to share around the Lions locker room. Cincinnati was well-prepared for everything Detroit tried to do in the limited range of which Goff will attempt at quarterback.

The Lions managed just five first downs in their first eight offensive possessions. Detroit’s defense kept it close in the first half, with good performances from the young secondary and solid tackling. They got tired, or lost focus, after that and the Bengals opened up the floodgates. Burrow, Joe Mixon, Ja’marr Chase and the Cincinnati offense were too much for the game but thinly-talented Lions defense to keep down for too long.

Two somewhat impressive garbage-time drives made the stat sheet and scoreboard look more respectable, but the Bengals dominated this one. The disparity in talent between these two cats was obvious. Cincinnati was the better team and played like it on both sides of the ball.

With the loss, the Lions fall to 0-6. Jacksonville’s win earlier on Sunday leaves Detroit as the only team without a win after six games. The Bengals, the NFL’s worst team in 2019, improved to 4-2.