Cincinnati Bengals: How bad is the Bengals' tackling issue? Worse than we thought

Fletcher Page | Cincinnati Enquirer

Show Caption Hide Caption Bengals Wrap: Chiefs roll in prime time Enquirer beat writers Paul Dehner Jr. and Fletcher Page wrap up the Bengals 45-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football

The Cincinnati Bengals inability to tackle the Kansas City Chiefs was glaring on Sunday, both in person at Arrowhead Stadium and on the primetime broadcast.

It also looks as bad on paper.

The Bengals missed 18 tackles in the 45-10 loss, according to Pro Football Focus, the most in a game since 2006, as far back as the PFF game-by-game statistics go.

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"You have to go and you have to tackle," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said Monday. "You have to do a better job. I wish there was a magic word or button to press, but there isn’t.”

Vontaze Burfict, in particular, struggled to bring down the Chiefs playmakers.

The veteran linebacker was credited with four missed tackles, the most in a single game of his career. He already has seven missed tackles in three games since returning from suspension, the same amount he had during the entire season in both 2012 and '15.

Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick was credited with three missed tackles, defensive lineman Adolphus Washington two and nine players had one each.

Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt had 72 yards after contact on 15 carries, good for 84 percent of his 86 total yards on the ground. Kansas City receivers had 204 yards after the catch (with an average of seven yards per reception), their highest total of the season.

“It’s a definitely fixable issue," Lewis said.

It's also a trend.

Bengals' missed tackles total has reached double digits in five out of seven games this season.

Kansas City: 18

Pittsburgh: 11

Miami: 3

Atlanta: 10

Carolina: 10

Baltimore: 11

Indianapolis: 4

That's already more than in all but one season since 2006. The Bengals had six such games in 2016 and four last year. In 2009 and '11, the Bengals didn't have a single game with double-digit missed tackles and had just one in '10.



“We have to get there and want to," Lewis said.

The "want to" phrase – odd when used in discussing a team with a winning record playing a Sunday Night game against a Super Bowl contender in Kansas City – was also used by linebacker Preston Brown after the game in the locker room.

"You've got to want to tackle those guys and they were not going down unless you want to tackle them," he said. "So it's not just a wrap up kind of thing. They were running through guys, spinning off guys. We've got to find ways to get guys down."

Attrition, of course, hasn't helped. Linebacker Nick Vigil, the team's leading tackler through the first six games, Brown, cornerback Darqueze Dennard and defensive end Michael Johnson all missed time due to injuries.

But that's something every team in the league deals with each season.

“You have to correct it with the people out there, you have to correct it with the person at the point, or you have to correct it with new people," Lewis said. "It’s kind of a three-in-one deal.

“Again, it’s part of football. It’s part of defense. You have to tackle. I can’t push a button and make it go away. We’ve got to get better at it, and we’re going to keep working at it.”