BENGALS BLOG

Bengals' starters, McCarron shine against Bears

Paul Dehner Jr.
pdehnerjr@enquirer.com
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback AJ McCarron (5) throws a pass during warm ups before the NFL preseason game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears.

The Bengals starters spent the week itching to make amends for the egg laid in Tampa on Monday. In the first half at Paul Brown Stadium on Saturday, they did just that.

But it was a backup that had the stadium buzzing during a 21-10 Bengals' win against the Chicago Bears in their third preseason game.

Starting quarterback Andy Dalton went a perfect 6-of-6 for 52 yards in leading a 16-play touchdown drive to start the game, but was taken out after injuring his neck on the drive. Dalton never went to the locker room and appeared in good spirits hanging out with coaches and players.

Marvin Lewis said his exit was just a precaution, and Dalton was fine.

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After Dalton exited, backup quarterback AJ McCarron entered for his first home game and picked up where the starter left off.

McCarron led back-to-back touchdown drives - with the first team going 6-of-6 for 87 yards for a perfect 158.3 passer rating.

On the first drive, he dropped back and hit Marvin Jones slicing deep over the middle. Jones wiggled between Bears tacklers for a 31-yard touchdown.

McCarron ran down the field, bobbing his head, yelling and screaming with a smile as wide as Alabama celebrating his first career touchdown pass.

The play came just after a deep pass completed down the sidelines to a leaping Jones was called back by holding.

Once McCarron returned on the next drive, a 26-yard run by Jeremy Hill set up a lob pass to tight end Tyler Eifert running alone down to the 3-yard line. Hill took it in two plays later for a 1-yard touchdown run.

McCarron finished 12 of 17 for 149 yards and the touchdown.

"We got some things done we wanted to get done," Lewis said. "We started fast, and both first units played pretty well. I liked the one-minute drive situation we had for the defense at the end of the half. That will give us some good things to coach off of."

Beyond the quarterback's impressive home debut, the Bengals' defense returned to form of the first preseason game as well. Against the Giants, the first team forced two three-and-out series before exiting. In the first half Saturday, they didn't allow a touchdown to a depleted Bears offense playing without its top four receivers.

Carlos Dunlap and linebacker Chris Carter both notched sacks. Carter had a second sack after halftime, but it as wiped out by illegal contact down the field.

The run defense held Bears running back Matt Forte to 16 yards on six carries. In all, the Bengals outgained the Bears 211-114 at halftime.

"We came out with more focus and more energy," safety George Iloka said. "We knew we had to do that after last week. We've got a lot of veteran leaders, and even thought it's just preseason, you never want to put two bad performances back to back."

Odd that on a night Andy Dalton was perfect from the field, his backup quarterback made the splash. Dalton drove the Bengals down the field, including two passes to running back/receiver Rex Burkhead for 35 yards.

Dalton ran three times on the drive, one scramble, a zone-read option and quarterback sneak on fourth-and-goal from 1. It was not known at halftime which play caused the neck injury.

"We wanted to come out and set the tone right away after last week," Dalton said. "We wanted to come out and play fast, and that's exactly what we did. We mixed in runs and passes and controlled the ball. It got a little tough at the end, but that just made us want to score more. I knew I'd get in. I knew our line would do it for me."

Saturday marked the season debut of offensive linemen Jake Fisher and Andre Smith. Fisher, the team's second-round draft pick this season, returned from a shoulder injury that kept him out the first two weeks, and Smith practiced regularly but didn't play through a nagging foot injury.

The Bears (2-1) blocked a Kevin Huber punt for their lone touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter.

Other notable players who didn't play were cornerback Darqueze Dennard and Emmanuel Lamur. Dennard injured his groin in the first preseason game against the Giants and Lamur strained his hamstring against Tampa Bay. Neither are believed to be serious.