Ja’Marr Chase’s holdout and limited practice time were not the only problems for the Cincinnati Bengals in their disappointing season opener.
Chase played on Sunday against the New England Patriots after many wondered if he would. The top receiver missed all of training camp while trying to get a new, big contract.
However, turnovers and poor tackling also played a big role in the Bengals’ 16-10 loss to the Patriots, continuing their trend of poor starts to the season under coach Zac Taylor.
“I felt ready enough,” Chase said, who caught six passes for 62 yards. “I just wish we had more chances to make plays. Turnovers and we need to get first downs and move the ball. We just have to forget about it and move on to next week.”
With a game against the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs coming up, the Bengals might start 0-2 for the third year in a row.
In his first season, Taylor started 0-11 during a rebuilding year before drafting Joe Burrow first overall.
The Bengals’ best two-game start under Taylor has been 1-1.
The Bengals allowed 170 rushing yards and had two key fumbles on Sunday. Burrow, who is fully healthy, went 21 of 29 for 164 yards and was sacked three times.
Cincinnati had a chance to tie or win the game with 3:04 left but couldn’t get a first down and chose to punt with three timeouts remaining. The Patriots then got two first downs to run out the clock.
“I missed Ja’Marr on the first play, missed Zack (Moss) on the check-down on the second play, then they played a coverage I didn’t expect on third down,” Burrow said. “Not my best drive. Not our best day. I just have to watch the tape.”
Burrow learned on Sunday that Chase would play after Chase got over food poisoning earlier in the week.
