The Cincinnati Bengals didn’t just start the 2026 season with a defensive spark. They detonated one.
What happened against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 33-27 win at Paycor Stadium was the kind of sequence that can flip a game before everybody’s settled in. Cincinnati’s defense forced three straight fumbles, turned all three into touchdowns, and built a 21-3 lead that ended up carrying the day.
The first punch came from Demetrius Knight Jr., and it was the one nobody could have reasonably penciled in. Baker Mayfield was hit, the ball popped free, and Knight grabbed it before racing 27 yards for the Bengals’ first touchdown of the season.
It wasn’t Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase or Tee Higgins putting points on the board. It was a linebacker.
Then the chaos kept coming. Tampa Bay’s next two possessions also ended with Cincinnati recovering fumbles. Three straight Buccaneers drives, three straight takeaways, three straight times the Bengals walked away with the ball.
That stretch changed the game. Every one of those turnovers led to touchdowns, and that avalanche of points built the cushion Cincinnati needed in a game it eventually won by only six. Seven more Bengals points came after Joe Burrow threw a pick-six, which only added to the strange, turnover-heavy feel of the afternoon.
The big takeaway wasn’t just the turnovers themselves. It was how the Bengals got them.
This wasn’t a defense waiting around for luck. The front was getting after Mayfield, making life miserable and forcing the ball loose.
That’s exactly why Cincinnati overhauled the unit.
Dexter Lawrence II, Jonathan Allen, Boye Mafe and the rest of the rebuilt line were brought in to make plays like these. Bryan Cook, the former Chiefs Super Bowl winner, also got in on the action by recovering a fumble in the end zone after Baker Mayfield was stripped by Barrett Carter. That one had to feel especially good for Carter, who spent the offseason hearing plenty of noise about whether he should be benched and replaced.
Cincinnati even had another takeaway through the air wiped out by a penalty, but by then the defense had already set the tone. The ball was bouncing the Bengals’ way, and more importantly, they were creating the pressure that made those breaks possible.
There was another big defensive play late, too. In the fourth quarter, Boye Mafe forced a fumble on another sack of Mayfield, and Cincinnati recovered it to help close the door in the final half of the final period.
It’s only Week 1, and turnovers can vanish as quickly as they arrive. But for one Sunday, the Bengals looked like a defense that expects to make game-changing plays instead of hoping for them.
That’s a very different feel from last season. And if Al Golden’s unit can keep pairing a real pass rush with this kind of takeaway production, Cincinnati may have found something it has been chasing for a long time.
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For Cincinnati, the bigger issue is what this kind of development eventually forces them to consider. Mims is not even in extension territory until 2027, but the market for tackles with his profile already points to a hefty price range, and that number could keep climbing if franchise-tag costs rise the way they are projected to. The Bengals usually prefer to avoid getting boxed into a costly decision early, yet Mims keeps making it harder to ignore what comes next. [Read more 🡒]