Being shutout to open the season and losing to a rookie quarterback in his first career start four days later is already taking its toll on the Cincinnati Bengals.
After a 13-9 loss to the Houston Texans on Thursday night, Bengals players expressed their frustration with the team’s 0-2 start. Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick kept his assessment quite simple.
“We suck,” he said, via Jeremy Rausch of FOX 19 in Cincinnati.
Kirkpartrick wasn’t he only one. Rausch also noted an unnamed player yelling in the Bengals locker room “we just lost to the worst team in the league.”
Defensive end Carlos Dunlap made his thoughts pretty clear, albeit simple, on Twitter as well.
🤦🏾♂️
— Carlos Dunlap (@Carlos_Dunlap) September 15, 2017
The Bengals have not scored a touchdown through the first two games of the season. The defense has been plenty good enough. They allowed just 268 yards of offense to the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday and just 266 yards to the Texans on Thursday night. They’ve allowed just 33 points combined through the first two games of the season and yet they find themselves at 0-2 largely due to an anemic offense.
While Baltimore and Houston are far from offensive juggernauts, the defense has carried its weight. The offense has not, scoring just nine points through two games.
With a trip to face the Green Bay Packers on the docket in 10 days, the Bengals are facing the real possibility of an 0-3 start. Any chances they have of competing for a playoff spot this season could be shot before the start of October.