Fluke or Foreshadowing? Bengals Have Time, But Not Much, To Prove Blowout Loss to Vikings Isn't Who They Are

It is factually accurate to say Sunday’s 48-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings was the worst loss in Cincinnati Bengals history.

But semantically, is it valid?

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor pointed to the ugly first half and noted that “everybody has to own the loss collectively.”

Quarterback Jake Browning, who threw two more interceptions after toss three last week in relief of Joe Burrow, said bluntly “We got worked today, and you’ve got to sit in it.”

Linebacker Logan Wilson referenced the “24-hour rule. Suck it up, take it on the chin and move on.”

Center and team captain Ted Karras noted a need for “a hearty dose of honesty” on what he said will be a “truth-telling Monday.”

The truth is that the Bengals were awful Sunday.

Five turnovers – two returned for touchdowns – tells you all you need to know. But they were by no means the only issue.

The offensive line got out-muscled at the point of attack.

The run game as a whole is more figment than physical.

The defense gave up an opening-drive touchdown for the third consecutive week and lost a healthy dose of want-to in the second half.

But for as bad as it was for as long as it was, the fluky nature of the five turnovers – including three in a span of four plays – makes it easier to flush the loss and move on.

Even after falling behind by 45 points for the first time in franchise. Even after losing by 38 points for the first time in 890 games. Even after getting 3 yards from lead back Chase Brown on 10 rushing attempts.

Even after all of it, the fact remains it was one loss in a 17-game schedule, and what we see from the Bengals in the next week will tell us a lot more about this team than what we watched for three hours Sunday.

“Don't let this game beat us twice in terms of our preparation this week and what the negativity is going to be, that exists,” Taylor said. “We put that on ourselves, and so we just got to do a great job sticking together, battling. Unbelievable stage to go on next week if we want to prove who we are.”

That will be Monday Night Football in Denver against a Broncos team that has lost each of its last two games on walk-off field goals.

The Bengals are 2-1.

They are tied for first place in the AFC North.

If they can find a way to beat the Broncos on the road, a lot of what we watched today will be a footnote.

Forget 38-point losses.

Taylor has never had back-to-back losses by 15 or more points.

His record after losing by 15 or more is

Taylor started his career going 0-9 in games played the week after a double-digit loss.

He’s 6-4 since.

Regardless of how much you believe in his and the team’s ability to flush what happened today and bounce back immediately next week, there is no reason to believe the rest of the season is going to continue to look like today.

A lot of what happened today was the result of the ridiculous swing that saw the Bengals with the ball in Minnesota territory at the two-minute warning with a chance to make it a one-score game and get the ball to start the second half.

In two minutes, they went from down 17-3 with hope of getting closer to behind 34-3 heading into the locker room.

“Realistically, we need to look at why this game got away,” Taylor said. “You're going to hear me talk about these five turnovers over and over. It's going to be easy to make this game a bigger game than that, but really that put us in a horrible spot to where, when you're on the road and you give them the momentum like that, two defensive touchdowns, times we're getting momentum and they're punching the ball free and getting the ball, it's tough to come back from that.

“And so it's as simple as that,” Taylor added. “I'm not saying there's not a lot we need to clean up in all phases, but that made the game really ugly, and it was hard to come back from. We just need to fundamentally clean some stuff up, be better with the ball security. This is one loss. We have 17 games.”

Losses by 38 points happen sometimes.

They even happen to good teams.

Are the Bengals good? We’ll find that out moving forward, not by making a blanket statement based on 60 minutes of football in Minnesota.

Since the 1970 merger, there have been 26 teams that have absorbed a loss of at least 38 points and still made the postseason.

The most recent was the 2024 Chiefs, who rested all of their starters in Week 18, enabling the Broncos to coast to a 38-0 win that put them in the playoffs and eliminated the Bengals.

But there is only one other entry on the list of 26 in which the team took a 38-point loss in a season finale (the 1991 Bears lost 52-14 to the 49ers having already clinched a wildcard spot).

If you’re looking for something to be optimistic about instead of searching for torches and pitchforks, not only have 26 teams overcome such a drubbing to reach the postseason, five of the six to do it advanced in the playoffs.

The lone exception was the 2021 Raiders, who fell to the Chiefs 48-9 in Week 14 before winning a wildcard berth and losing to the Bengals.

The 2010 Jets lost to the Patriots 45-3 in Week 13 and rallied to reach the AFC Championship Game.

The 2008 Cardinals lost to the Patriots 47-7 in Week 16 and went on to reach the Super Bowl.

The Bengals have 14 more games to prove they are capable of growing into a playoff-caliber team.

But first, they have seven days to prove today’s loss was more fluke and not foreshadowing.