Basement Bengals Fall To 0-3, Steelers Build AFC North Advantage

Two AFC North teams entered Week 4 winless, desperately looking to avoid a dreaded 0-3 start. Heading into Week 5, only the Cincinnati Bengals are searching to secure their first victory. The Bengals fell to the Washington Commanders 38-33 on Monday night football, now all alone in division basement. The Pittsburgh Steelers early advantage in the North only grows.

Through three weeks, the Steelers have a multi-game lead on the rest of the pack. Here’s the updated standings.

1. Pittsburgh Steelers: 3-0

2. Baltimore Ravens: 1-2

3. Cleveland Browns: 1-2

4. Cincinnati Bengals: 0-3

With the win, the Commanders move to 2-1, their first time over .500 since Week 3 of last season.

In the early minutes, the Bengals looked poise to cruise. Taking the opening kickoff, QB Joe Burrow found WR Ja’Marr Chase for a 41-yard touchdown. It was his first score of the season and first since Week 13 of 2023.

But rookie QB Jayden Daniels and the Commanders offered an immediate answer. Daniels led his offense on a 10-play, 70-yard drive. It didn’t end in a long touchdown but a short burst by RB Brian Robinson Jr. from 1-yard out to tie the game.

Following a Bengals missed field goal, Washington grabbed the lead as free agent addition RB Austin Ekeler muscled his way through line of scrimmage resistance, found daylight, and beat the Bengals to the front left pylon for a 24-yard touchdown.

Ekeler had a big day before leaving with a possible concussion, returning the second half kickoff 62 yards and chipping in a pair of receptions.

Bengals’ kicker Evan McPherson atoned for his earlier miss, hitting a 28-yarder to make things 14-10 shortly before halftime. While Cincinnati settled for field goals, Washington kept finding the end zone. A 55-yard completion from Daniels to WR Terry McLaurin set up Daniels doing it himself with a 4-yard score on 1st and goal the following play. Cincinnati saved some face as McPherson hit his second field goal of the day, cutting into Washington’s halftime lead but still trailing 21-13 at the break.

The Commanders tried to run away with the game at the half. After Ekeler’s big opening return to the Bengals’ 33, Washington pushed their way down to the 1-yard line. Daniels threw his first touchdown pass not to McLaurin or a running back or tight end but OT and former Steeler Trent Scott, who did his big man dance in the end zone.

Daniels is the first quarterback to throw his first career touchdown pass to an offensive lineman since the Buffalo Bills’ J.P. Losman hit offensive tackle (and former college tight end) Jason Peters in Sept. 2005.

Facing the prospects of getting run out of their home stadium, the Bengals hit the gas. Burrow moved the Bengals’ 78 yards on 13 plays and on 4th and goal, used a rub route to get second-year WR Andrei Iosivas for a 2-yard score. The extra point made it 28-20 late in the third quarter.

Washington added a field goal to again go up two-possessions. Burrow brought the Bengals offense back into the end zone the ensuing drive, hitting Chase for a 31-yard touchdown, his second of the day. It was his first multi-touchdown day since his three-score explosion in Week 5 last season.

But the two-point conversion failed, keeping it a 5-point game.

Leading 31-26, Daniels and the Commanders didn’t go into a shell. While they moved the pocket and kept things manageable for Daniels, they moved the ball to midfield. But a false start and DE Trey Hendrickson sack put them behind the sticks. Washington got yardage back on consecutive WR Dyami Brown tunnel screens. Facing no man’s land on 4th and 4 from the Bengals’ 39, Commanders’ head coach Dan Quinn pressed his luck. Daniels avoided a whammy, connecting with veteran TE Zach Ertz for 9-yards as Washington began bleeding clock.

In what might be known as Daniels’ coming out party, he continued to deliver in the game’s most critical moments. On 3rd and 7 from the Bengals’ 27 with 2:15 remaining, Daniels stood tall in the face of pressure and threw a perfect deep into the end zone, finding McLaurin for the grab and touchdown.

The extra point put Washington up 38-26 just ahead of the two-minute warning. Daniels finished the game nearly perfect, completing 21-of-23 passes for 254 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 141.7 quarterback rating.

Cincinnati got the ball back but couldn’t pull off a miracle. RB Zack Moss scored from a yard away with 40 seconds left, the extra point making it a 38-33 contest. Washington recovered the onside kick and after a kneeldown, the game was over.

While the Bengals have gotten accustomed to starting out seasons 0-2, doing so in three of their last four years, 0-3 is an exponentially higher Defcon level of concern. In 2020, 2022, and 2023, the Bengals avoided a loss in their third game, winning two and tying the other. This time, they’ll have to climb out of their deepest hole since 2019, Burrow’s rookie year, when they finished 2-14. They’re likely to do it without OT Trent Brown, carted off with a knee injury. First round rookie Amarius Mims finished the game.

Cincinnati will face a tougher-than-expected Carolina Panthers team next Sunday, revived after turning to veteran and longtime Bengals QB Andy Dalton. The Commanders will travel West and face the Arizona Cardinals.