There were plenty of empty seats at Paul Brown Stadium for Sunday’s game between the Bengals and 49ers and it’s hard to imagine any absent Bengals fans second-guessed their decision to stay away.
The 49ers routed the Bengals 41-17 and the fans that did show up responded to the home team’s effort with boos. Running back Joe Mixon called it “definitely frustrating” to hear that reaction and quarterback Andy Dalton said he doesn’t “know what that accomplishes,” but head coach Zac Taylor had a more empathetic response after the loss.
“We were playing poorly in all three phases,” Taylor said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. “It was not anything to be excited about if I was a fan in the stands that paid money to come to that game. It’s on us to fix the issues we have and play better and the fans will rally behind that. But right now, we didn’t give them a good enough product to be excited about.”
The Bengals will be in Buffalo and Pittsburgh before returning home to face the Cardinals on October 6. If the next two weeks don’t show some improvement, those empty seats and boos will likely remain part of the landscape in Cincinnati.