It was supposed to be a chance for the Cincinnati Bengals to remind the nation that they were still a force to be reckoned with, a national broadcast audience on old fashioned ABC MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL that would for the first time see its LSU duo (plus their Clemson compadre) try and thrill a hungry hometown crowd.
Well, to some extent they succeeded. The CINCINNATI ENQUIRER’s Charlie Goldsmith began his story from last night with this encouraging recap:
For a few fleeting seconds, the Cincinnati Bengals felt like they were unstoppable again. Quarterback Joe Burrow plus wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins has always been a winning formula for the Bengals. Since the trio assembled in 2021, their health was all that the Bengals needed to contend. The Bengals opened Monday’s game with a 41-yard deep ball for a touchdown from Burrow to Chase, and everything felt normal again for the Bengals.
But Goldsmith’s next line spoke volumes more about the current state of affairs in southern Ohio:
But as it turned out, there’s a new normal at Paycor Stadium.
And delivering that message just happened to be yet another LSU alumnus who, simply put, cemented himself into the overall conversation of who’s a winning quarterback and served notice that there’s also a new normal for the Washington squad that is now working on its third nickname in five years. As BLEACHER REPORT’s Scott Polacek recounted:
Burrow threw for 324 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions in Monday’s game between his Cincinnati Bengals and Washington Commanders.
And he might not have even been the best LSU quarterback in Paycor Stadium.
That is because rookie Jayden Daniels was brilliant while leading his team to a second straight win with a 38-33 victory over the Bengals. He beat Cincinnati with both his arm (21-of-23 for 254 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions) and his legs (39 rushing yards and one touchdown) in the exact type of performance Washington envisioned when it selected him with the No. 2 pick.
His biggest moment came when he dropped a 27-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin right in the bucket on third down with just more than two minutes remaining. It was an incredible throw and capped off a performance that Commanders fans will surely remember for years to come.
And it was a connection which triggered Goldsmith to channel what was likely the consensus reaction of Bengals faithful:
When you chip away at a championship caliber core, see players age out of it and fail to replace them in the draft, you start to become vulnerable. On Monday…Washington recognized blood in the water.
The 0-3 Bengals aren’t a recognizable version of the team that had been one of the premier teams in the NFL since 2021.
In 2021, the Bengals blew out the Baltimore Ravens for an upset win on the road in a game that announced the Bengals’ presence on the national stage.
In 2024, it was instead the Bengals as victims of a team and a Heisman Trophy-winning ex-Bayou Tiger on the rise.
From the depths of despair that the one-time Redskins, and then the ill-monickered Football Team plunged to under the toxic reign of Dan Snyder has emerged a team with hope and brightness not seen in the nation’s capital since the Joe Gibbs eras. New ownership, potentially a new stadium–possibly within the city limits, like it used to be.
No pig snouts in sight. And I suppose tiger stripes has already been taken by the team they just beat.
But hey, how’s about fangs?
Courage…