Welcome to the darkest timeline.

Entering a season with many unknowns as the Bengals attempt to bounce off the mat from 6-9-1, this represents the disaster scenario.

The offense was inept. The defense gave up a big play and couldn’t get off the field enough on third downs.

The most concerning element of this disaster was the man given responsibility for creating optimism produced the most devasting turn of events.

Andy Dalton opened the season with his worst half of football in years. He threw four picks for the first time since 2013, one in the red zone and another setting Baltimore up at the Bengals’ 2. He fumbled away a fourth turnover and added a late pick for a fifth. Facing Joe Flacco, who didn’t appear capable of throwing the ball more than 15 yards, those were more than enough to bury the Bengals.

"It’s hard to put your finger on it because it was just bad all around," tight end Tyler Eifert said. "Just got to be better at every position."

The debacle sent fans into a fury of boos before halftime and only a stunned smattering remained in the final quarter.

All the goodwill of the 50th season morphed into memories of The Lost Decade.

"I don't know if I've ever been in such a disappointing football game," Marvin Lewis said.

Terrell Suggs beat left tackle Cedric Ogbuehi for a sack/fumble and Trey Hopkins went out for the game with a knee injury in his first start. The debut of the two new tackles also included three holding penalties. Veterans committed a slew of infractions in the first quarter and Jeremy Maclin was able to trot to a 48-yard touchdown thanks to a blitz gone terribly awry.

After one final interception, A.J. Green tossed his helmet out of frustration. Maybe we wondered how this team would look, but hard to imagine even the most pessimistic of critics saw this coming. You could call it shocking, if not for a deeper reality.

"Nothing is shocking to me," safety George Iloka said. "This is the NFL. You don't show up, you lose."

But to lose like this? You couldn’t draw up a much worse day and it makes everyone re-evaluate what the floor and ceiling are on the 2017 Bengals.

Game ball

Geno Atkins. Atkins hasn’t changed. Going up against Pro Bowler Marshal Yanda he ate the veteran’s lunch multiple times rushing up the middle. He racked up seven tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and two more quarterback hits.

Atkins started relatively slow by his standards last year, but made an early statement he didn’t plan on letting history repeat itself.

Upon further review

In the big picture, it meant little. But the tone it meant more. Trailing 20-0 with 9:54 remaining, the Bengals struggling offense found itself in Baltimore territory at the 43. They faced fourth-and-9. Rather than show urgency and go for it, Marvin Lewis opted to send the punt team out. Kevin Huber pinned Baltimore at the 7, but a critical two minutes and 30 seconds rolled off the clock as the three-score lead held. Again, it didn’t change the final outcome and an insignificant note on an awful day, but an offense that needed a lift wasn’t given an extra opportunity to create one on a short field with time running out.

Upon further review, Part 2

A few Bengals players questioned whether the 48-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown by Maclin was indeed a legal play or a pick.

“You saw it,” Iloka said. “You know what it was. What did it look like? If they call a pick play and you are in the right kind of coverage and leverage, it can get you."

Maclin and tight end Ben Watson crossed, but neither of the two receivers made contact with Iloka or Darqueze Dennard who ran into each other allowing Maclin to run free. That makes for a clean play.

The call was an audible from Joe Flacco which exploited an all-out blitz leaving the middle of the field open.

“They just beat us on that one,” Dennard said.

Tweet of the game

That about sums it up.

Injury report

Trey Hopkins (left knee): Hopkins went down chasing a Dalton tipped interception late in the first half and didn’t return. T.J. Johnson took over at right guard.

Michael Johnson (concussion): The veteran defensive tackle went down on the final play prior to halftime and didn’t return with a concussion.

Three keys revisited

Get to Flacco: The Bengals did a decent job pushing into Flacco’s face, but it didn’t matter much. Thanks to the turnovers, Baltimore went into clock-killing mode running the ball almost exclusively, Flacco only threw 17 passes.

Don’t let the run game get a rhythm: The Bengals let Baltimore run it consistently during the second half, finding themselves unable to get off the field as the Ravens milked away their lead. The Ravens running game wasn’t especially efficient but did enough to keep the chains moving.

Protect Andy Dalton: Not great, though it probably could have been worse. The biggest error of the game came when Suggs beat left tackle Cedric Ogbuehi around the edge and forced a sack/fumble/turnover on a scrambling Andy Dalton. Otherwise, pockets weren’t consistently great but aren’t the primary culprit on Dalton’s struggles.

Photo of the game

That's the story of the game in photo form. Rough day for No. 14.

Game changer

Terrell Suggs. He turns 35 in a month, but the old man found a way to make the biggest play of the game for Baltimore. He got his hand up to tip a Dalton pass during a two-minute drill before halftime high into the air where LaDarius Webb ran underneath it for a pick setting the Ravens up at the 2. Going into halftime down 10-0 would have been surmountable even considering how poor the offense was playing. But trailing 17-0 against this Baltimore defense was all that mattered.

For good measure, Suggs added two sacks of Dalton beating Ogbuehi.

Five key numbers

55,254

That was the attendance Sunday, the smallest for the home opener since 2011. You know all the anticipation of that first Bengals home opener since 2009? You know all that 50th season happiness? Well, banks of open seats filled the upper deck as they were more than 10K shy of capacity.

1-1-4

That’s one reception on one target for four yards for Tyler Eifert through the first three quarters. If this Bengals defense is to have any juice, forgetting 85 for long periods of time can’t happen.

"Yeah, that's the way the reads went," Eifert said. "I want to help this offense as bad as anybody. I got to get open more. Maybe that’s why, but with everybody, it starts with yourself. You have to watch the film, look in the mirror and you have to do better."

15:08

During the first quarter plus eight seconds into the game, Bengals veterans committed four penalties. Brandon LaFell false started on the first play, Pat Sims jumped offsides, Dre Kirkpatrick committed a defensive holding penalty and Giovani Bernard got dinged for a facemask. On a team of young players expected to make mistakes, it was experienced players who set the team back.

12-29-2013

The last time Andy Dalton threw four interceptions in a game. That also came at home against Baltimore. He only threw two picks in a game once last year, against Buffalo. Yet, he was picked three times in the first half of Sunday’s opener.

9:38

Time of possession of the second drive of the second half for the Ravens. With the Bengals needing to make up ground, they couldn’t get off the field on the 18-play drive that covered 81 yards. Joe Flacco didn’t even complete a pass, going 0 for 2. The Bengals kept the drive alive with third-down penalties on William Jackson III (defensive pass interference) and Nick Vigil (defensive holding).

"We kept the drive alive for them in that case, unfortunately," Lewis said. "We stopped them twice on third downs."

Quote of note

Dre Kirkpatrick on reaction to the loss and missing Adam Jones and Vontaze Burfict due to suspension:

“Don’t everybody get too crazy right now. It’s the first game. We got a lot of guys off the team, guys we feed off and build our game off of because they bring a lot of energy. I feel like we are going to be all right. They are not better than us, they just played better than us today.”

Song of the game

Since this game looked like so many from the 90s, a hit from 90s seems appropriate.