Green Bay Packers fall to Cincinnati Bengals Sunday, 34-30
GREEN BAY (WITI) -- The Green Bay Packers fell to the Cincinnati Bengals 34-30 on Sunday, September 22nd.
The 1-1 Green Bay Packers faced the 1-1 Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium.
This was the team's first visit to Paul Brown Stadium under Head Coach Mike McCarthy -- and the team's first visit to Cincinnati since 2005 and this game marked the Packers' second game ever at Paul Brown Stadium since it opened in 2000.
The Bengals were coming off a Monday Night Football game against the Steelers, as they headed into Sunday's matchup with the Packers. While the Packers defeated the Washington Redskins during the Pack's home opener at Lambeau Field, 38-20 last Sunday.
The Bengals jumped ahead of the Packers quick in the first quarter. The Pack was down 14-0 before Aaron Rodgers even came into the game. One of those Bengals' touchdowns came from a turnover caused by Packers' Jeremy Ross who lost the ball during a punt recovery.
The Packers would pick things up in the middle part of the game. Mason Crosby was solid in the kick game going 3/3 (all in the 2nd quarter). MD Jennings picked up a fumble forced by Clay Matthews and took it into the end zone, making it a 14-10 game. Jennings touchdown, a Jonathan Franklin touch down (also from a turnover), and a James Jones score along with Crosby's field goals added up for 30 unanswered Packers points making it a 30-14 game late in the 3rd quarter.
That's where the Bengals picked up their momentum and fought back with 20 unanswered points of their own for the victory.
Although this game was a hard fought battle, the real theme was each team's ability to score on or because of turnovers. There were 10 total turnovers in the game, 6 Cincinnati and 4 Green Bay.
Another main issue for the Packers was the injuries. James Starks left due to a knee injury. Clay Matthews left because of a hamstring injury and Jermichael Finley left because of a concussion.
As for the Packers leading man, Aaron Rodgers tripled his interceptions on the season. Rodgers threw 2 interceptions to make his season total 3. This was the first time in 41 games that Rodgers had more than 1 interception. However, Cincinnati's play caller, Andy Dalton was 20 of 28 for 235 yards with one pick.
Following the battle against the Bengals, the Green Bay Packers will have a bye week in Week Four -- the earliest the team has had a bye week under McCarthy.
The Packers loss today ruined a streak where they had won the game heading into the bye for each of the past three seasons.