DAYTON, Ohio — When the Bengals schedule was released in mid-May, the game against the Texans was the game I was most worried about. It was the week after a prime time game against Buffalo and just four days before a prime time at Baltimore. Trap game epitomized.
Of course, there’s also the history with the Texans. The two playoff losses. Monday Night Football in 2015. Not to mention the Bengals hadn’t beaten the Texans at home since 2005 and had gone the previous two home games against the Texans without scoring a touchdown.
But what happened Sunday afternoon confirms another reason why I was worried about this game: the Houston Texans are a good team. This game was more about that than it was about the Bengals losing.
The way the Texans moved the ball up and down the field showed a team that is on the rise. It suggests that even teams with good defenses and good defensive coordinators are having trouble slowing down rookie quarterback CJ Stroud and a fledgling Texans offense.
It’s not just the Bengals who the Texans have beaten this season. They took apart Pittsburgh’s defense in week four. They shredded Jacksonville on the road by 20 points in week three. They put up over 500 yards on Tampa Bay’s defense just last week.
Anybody who has been paying attention to the NFL when not watching the Bengals games would have known that the Texans were going to be a tough out. Anybody who watched CJ Stroud in college as quarterback of Ohio State would have known he was going to flourish in the NFL. His accuracy, decision making, poise, maturity, leadership; they’re all there. I saw it on display in the Playoff semifinal against Georgia. He reminded me of Joe Burrow. There is no shame in the Bengals losing to this Texans team, especially one led by a budding superstar in CJ Stroud.
Give the Texans credit. They moved the ball very well yesterday. They found ways to get guys open. They found a way to run the ball. On defense, they found a way to take away Ja’Marr Chase. They got some pressure on Joe Burrow. They forced the Bengals to play from behind. Even though they turned the ball over three times on offense, the Texans stayed aggressive. They showed a great deal of resiliency.
Give the Bengals credit, too. Despite getting shredded and outplayed, they still roared to life over the final 20-25 minutes. Their offense got going. Their defense got stops. They overcame two Joe Burrow interceptions, which were uncharacteristic enough to make me think he won’t make those mistakes the rest of the season. On a day when Ja’Marr Chase wasn’t 100 percent, the Bengals got other players like Tanner Hudson, Tyler Boyd and Trenton Irwin involved.
For anyone wanting to say this is a bad loss, I think that’s an overreaction. A bad loss is losing to a 4-10 Bills team at home a week after winning the AFC North (Week 16, 2005), losing to a 2-7 Raiders team on the road a week after beating Pittsburgh on the road (Week 11, 2009), losing to an 0-5 Browns team on the road (Week 6, 2012), losing to a 1-2 Browns team on the road a week after a 16-point comeback against the Packers (Week 4, 2013), losing to a 1-5 Jets team on the road a week after crushing Baltimore on the road (Week 8, 2021) or losing to a 2-5 Browns team on the road on Monday Night Football (Week 8, 2022). Those are bad losses. This loss Sunday is not that.
What it is, though, is confirmation that the AFC is loaded. There are so many good teams. There are so many good quarterbacks. Not only do divisional games matter, but every conference game matters. The Texans are a rising conference foe. Heck, they are now a contender for not only a playoff berth, but also an AFC South division title. And, the Texans now hold the tiebreaker over the Bengals in the AFC playoff race.
The Bengals game at Baltimore Thursday night just got more important. Win, and you’re 6-4, 1-2 in the division, 1-1 against the Ravens, and just a half game out of first place. Lose, you’re 5-5, 0-3 in the division, 0-2 against Baltimore, 1-5 against the AFC.
Had the Bengals won on Sunday, they would have had a chance to go into first place in the AFC North. And even a loss to drop to 6-4 wouldn’t cause a season’s over type feeling.
But because the Bengals lost a game to a rising Texans team, the road is now tougher to not only the AFC North title, but the Playoffs overall. That’s why I was worried about the game Sunday. The Texans are a much better team than we expected, and a loss would cause uncertainty to an already crowded AFC Playoff race. The Bengals have been 5-4 through nine games in each of the last two seasons. We know how those seasons ended. But the AFC North is only getting tougher. The AFC as a whole is getting tougher. Every team the Bengals play the rest of the way is .500 or better. They still gotta play the Bengals, but every game now is a game worth worrying about.
Let me be Frank and Cut to the Chase 