Baker Mayfield came into the season opener with something to prove, and Cincinnati made sure that urge worked against him.
Just before the Buccaneers faced the Bengals, Tampa Bay changed the script by handing Mayfield the extension he had been waiting for: three years, with a $55 million annual average. That put him in the same pay range as Joe Burrow, and it set up a game that carried a little extra edge before kickoff.
Mayfield looked efficient enough on paper. He completed 23 of 28 passes for 216 yards.
But the Bengals never let the night belong to his arm. They got after the ball, and that changed everything.
Cincinnati forced three Mayfield fumbles, with Boye Mafe, Myles Murphy, and Barrett Carter each helping jar it loose. The Bengals recovered all three, and one of those takeaways turned into a scoop-and-score by linebacker Demetrius Knight.
D KNIGHT SAID GIMME THAT. #TBvsCIN at 1:00 on Fox pic.twitter.com/WNSKgJ6STf
- Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) September 13, 2026
The result was a 33-27 Bengals win in the opener dubbed “Open in Orange,” and the final margin didn’t really tell the whole story. Cincinnati’s defense looked like the unit the front office bet on all offseason, and that investment paid off immediately.
The Bengals’ new-look defense and the returning pieces around it kept making plays, and the turnovers piled up fast enough to swing the game. Those three Mayfield fumbles directly led to 17 points for Cincinnati off turnovers alone.
For Tampa Bay, the extension Mayfield had been chasing didn’t stop Cincinnati from treating him like a quarterback they could rattle. For the Bengals, it was the kind of start that made their offseason defensive gamble look pretty smart.
And now Mayfield heads to his next game carrying that same frustrated energy. His next opponent is the Cleveland Browns.
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Amarius Mims Is Forcing A Bengals Decision They Usually Avoid
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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 🡒]