DENVER — The Cincinnati Bengals face the Denver Broncos on Monday night in a matchup of teams trying to find their footing.
The Bengals are 2-1 but are coming off a 48-10 blowout at the hands of the Vikings in their first game without franchise quarterback Joe Burrow. The Broncos are 1-2 and are coming off consecutive losses on field goals as time expired. They didn't trail in the fourth quarter in either game.
Denver beat Cincinnati eight consecutive times between 1983 and 1998, but the series has been pretty much even since then, with the Bengals winning three of the past four meetings, including twice at Mile High, in 2017 and 2021.
Players to watch
Tee Higgins had 11 receptions for 131 yards and a career-high three touchdowns in the Bengals' 30-24 Week 17 overtime victory against Denver last season. He has only seven catches for 104 yards and a TD in the first three games this season.
Broncos quarterback Bo Nix is off to a sputtering start. Bad footwork led to three overthrows of open receivers on deep passes last week that would have allowed the Broncos to beat the Chargers and vault into the AFC West lead. All of Sean Payton's Super Bowl talk this summer, along with the insistence that Nix was an elite passer, might have put too much pressure on the second-year quarterback.
Key matchup
Cincinnati's Trey Hendrickson vs. Broncos guard Garett Boles: Hendrickson has two sacks in the first three games, along with 15 QB pressures (tied for seventh in the league) and eight quick pressures (tied for third).
According to Next Gen Stats, Bolles has allowed only five pressures on 106 pass blocking snaps. The 4.7% pressure rate allowed is the lowest among left tackles with at least 50 pass snaps.
Key injuries
Outside of Joe Burrow, Bengals tight end Noah Fant is in concussion protocol and defensive end Shemar Stewart has an ankle injury and could miss his second straight game.
For the Broncos, linebacker Dre Greenlaw is on IR and has yet to make his Broncos debut because of a quadriceps injury. Also dealing with injuries are tight end Evan Engram (back) and linebacker Justin Strnad (foot).
Bengals stats
Cincinnati is 5-20 as the road team on Monday Night Football but has won its past two. The Bengals also have a 30-57 record in regular-season night games.
Quarterback Jake Browning has thrown five interceptions in seven quarters this season. He threw for a career-high 354 yards in his only Monday night start on Dec. 4, 2023, at Jacksonville.
Bengals star running back Chase Brown was held to 3 yards on 10 carries last week at Minnesota. His minus-54 yards this season before contact are 24 fewer than any other running back since the NFL’s Next Gen Stats began tracking in 2018.
Ja’Marr Chase is averaging 146.3 receiving yards in five Monday night games and has five touchdowns.
Linebacker Demetrius Knight is one of three rookies in the league with at least five tackles in each of the first three weeks.
Broncos stats
Nix has thrown a touchdown pass in 12 consecutive games. He's also won his past six home starts and is 2-1 in his career in prime time.
Denver running back J.K. Dobbins is one of two backs (James Cook) with a TD run in each of the first three games so far.
Receiver Marvin Mims Jr. had eight catches for 103 yards and two TDs in last season's game against the Bengals.
Linebacker Nik Bonitto had two sacks last week. He has gotten to the QB in eight straight home games. Meanwhile, cornerback Ja'Quan McMillian has forced a fumble in two of Denver's three games, and safety Brandon Jones had 11 tackles and an interception against the Chargers.
