In a grinding game of giveaway at Sunday’s Paul Brown Stadium opener, the Bengals defense answered the bell early in the fourth quarter when they sacked Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers on his own goal line and it turned into a back-breaking 38-yard touchdown drive finished off by quarterback Andy Dalton’s third touchdown pass of the game. It gave them a two-score lead with 8:49 left, led to the 24-19 victory, and left the Bengaldom gathering of 57,579 savoring a 2-0 start.
And fittingly it was the defense that finished it off when linebacker Vincent Rey dropped in front of wide receiver Malcom Floyd for the interception at midfield with 49 seconds left, San Diego’s third turnover on a day the Bengals had two of their own.
On the key drive early in the fourth quarter, cornerback Adam Jones, like he was all day in helping hold him to two catches for 16 yards, was draped all over wide receiver Keenan Allen to force a second-down incompletion to set up a third-and-six from the Bengals 9. Pro Bowl defensive tackle Geno Atkins and left end Carlos Dunlap then met at Rivers, a frequent occurrence as Atkins abused all day Chris Hairston making his first NFL start at guard.
With punter Mike Scifres in his own end zone, Bengals wide receiver Brandon Tate, with a block from cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, put the ball on the San Diego 38 on a 17-yard return.
The Bengals overcame two penalties in the drive and got great running from running back Giovani Bernard in claiming the second 100-yard day of his career even though he had his 12-yard touchdown run called back on a hold on rookie tight end Tyler Kroft. With Jeremy Hill on the bench after his second fumble of the day, Bernard reached 106 yards in the drive with the help of a 26-yard run and finished with 123 on 20 carries. Still, a procedure penalty on wide receiver Marvin Jones put the ball back at the Chargers 9 on third down.
But Dalton split tight end Tyler Eifert wide to the right and he made an inside move on cornerback Brandon Flowers, beat him straight down the field, and Dalton dropped it to Eifert in time for him to get both feet inbounds.
That gave the Bengals a 24-13 lead with 8:49 left.
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