Sloppy Cincy Giftwraps Win for Minnesota
September 22, 2025
The loss of Joe Burrow cannot once again result in a lost season for the Bengals. Although Burrow was healthy for all of 2023 and what did that ultimately amount to? A lost season. When it was announced that Burrow would be missing the next three months due to turf toe, it wasn’t met with much optimism. However, Jake Browning showed in 2023 that he can do more than enough as he took the Bengals to a 4-3 record the last time he was called upon. Things didn’t go so great this time against the Vikings.
Stepping into the starting role in Minnesota against a Brian Flores defense is one heck of an ask. As a result, the offense struggled to get much of anything going. Atlanta had the same issue last weekend in the primetime slot in MN, but even Michael Penix was able to lead his team to victory – albeit an ugly one. The Bengal offensive line was missing multiple blocks, committing penalties, not opening up running lanes. It was obvious that this would very quickly become a dink and dunk game as there just wasn’t any time for the receivers to run their routes downfield. It wasn’t working, and then the Browning pick six made it REALLY not work. What happened soon after was completely unexpected. Lost fumbles by Chase, Fant and Perine were cashed in for points by Carson Wentz and the Vikings. This thing was over by half thanks to the 20 points scored in the 2nd quarter. It got so ugly, that CBS didn’t even bother showing the rest of the broadcast and switched over to the New England/Pittsburgh game.
Jake Browning is certainly capable of more than this. He’s shown it. But he needs to find that 2023 version of himself and fast if the Cincinnati faithful want any chance of believing that their season didn’t actually end in week 2 of the 2025 season.
Keith, Author
Keith runs youth flag football leagues by day, and by night he hosts the podcast and writes articles with the confidence of a man who’s been rushing quarterbacks since dial-up. A longtime flag football DE and lifelong Falcons fan, he’s no stranger to heartbreak and enjoys watching the bears get slaughtered each week. Equal parts coach, critic, and chaos, Keith calls it like he sees it… even if it hurts.
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