The Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos will meet under the lights of Monday Night Football at Empower Field at Mile High (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC), with both teams desperate to steady their footing in the early season.
The Bengals (2-1) arrive in Denver reeling from the worst loss in franchise history, a 48-10 drubbing at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings. It was their first game without quarterback Joe Burrow, who underwent surgery for a toe injury suffered in Week 2. His absence was glaring: backup Jake Browning threw three interceptions, the Bengals turned the ball over five times, and Minnesota capitalized for 34 points directly off those miscues.
Head coach Zac Taylor insists the playbook won’t change drastically with Browning under center, but the Bengals must find balance offensively. Cincinnati’s ground game has been anemic, averaging just 2.4 yards per carry. Lead back Chase Brown has been hit behind the line on nearly 80% of his attempts, producing just 2 yards per carry through three games. If the Bengals can’t run the ball effectively, Browning will continue to face heavy pressure.
Another key is getting wideout Tee Higgins going. Through three games, Higgins has only seven catches for 104 yards, with just two targets last week. Yet, he has history at Mile High—last December he torched the Broncos for 11 catches, 131 yards, and three touchdowns in a 30-24 Bengals overtime win. A return to Denver may be the perfect remedy for Cincinnati’s sputtering pass attack.
On the other sideline, the Broncos (1-2) are coming off back-to-back heartbreaks. They’ve lost consecutive games on walk-off field goals—despite never trailing in the fourth quarter—against the Colts and Chargers. Denver’s inability to close games has been glaring: in their last five fourth-quarter possessions across those contests, they managed a missed 42-yard field goal, two three-and-outs, a red-zone interception, and only a short field goal after first-and-goal from the 5.
Second-year quarterback Bo Nix has shown flashes but also frustrations. Last week, he overthrew a wide-open receiver three times on deep balls in Denver’s 23-20 loss to Los Angeles. Head coach Sean Payton, who hyped Nix heavily during the offseason while hinting at playoff expectations, now faces scrutiny over whether he’s put too much on his young QB’s plate. Nix said he isn’t overly concerned about the misses, but correcting his footwork and timing is vital if Denver wants to finish drives.
One factor working in the Broncos’ favor: home-field advantage. Denver has won six straight at Mile High, and wideout Courtland Sutton made it clear what that means. “They don’t call it home-field advantage for nothing,” he said. The altitude has always been a challenge for visiting teams, particularly those with shaky depth or conditioning.
For the Bengals, this is about proving they can survive without Burrow long enough to stay in the AFC playoff hunt. For the Broncos, it’s about learning how to finish games—and proving Payton’s plan with Nix hasn’t backfired.
Both teams are searching for answers, and Monday night in Denver will show which one can find theirs first.
