It wasn’t perfect, but the Bengals’ defense gets a very nice win against the Bears

There was no better team in the entire NFL for the Cincinnati Bengals’ defense to face in a joint practice than the Chicago Bears.

The matchup was a reminder of the worst moment of the Bengals’ 2025 season, the game where the Bears stomped over the Bengals in the fourth quarter. With Caleb Williams, a talented group of pass catchers and one of the best play callers in the league, the Bears’ offense can be spectacular at any given moment and put unique stressors on a defense.

Linebacker Barrett Carter, who had his worst game of his entire rookie season against the Bears last year, was happy to see these guys again.

“People always want to say forget about the past,” Carter said. “I don’t want to say I still think about the game from last year. But you’ve got to remember how they won last year, how the game was essentially put on us and we didn’t get it done for our team. That was on my brain going out there for the last two-minute drive today. We didn’t finish last year. Damn, we’ve got to finish this year.”

In the joint practice on Thursday, the Bengals’ defense got off to a slow start. The Bears were in control in seven-on-seven red zone drills. The Bengals’ defense that had a significant upper hand in third down work in the middle of the field. But in the following period, 11 on 11 work in the red zone, Caleb Williams, Ben Johnson and the Bears provided some reminders of why the Bengals’ defense still isn’t cracking the top-10.

While Jordan Battle tipped his cap to Johnson, he said after practice that the Bengals needed to play faster in red zone and read their keys better against well drawn-up plays. Myles Murphy said that there was a play where he made an incorrect read on a play action pass. DJ Turner said the secondary has stuff to polish up, and he was overaggressive on a couple of big plays that he allowed. A penalty at the snap gave the Bears a free play. Carter said that there were stretches in practice where he could have been more situationally aware.

“The worst thing we can do is get excited and say we’re doing so well,” Jonathan Allen said. “We’ve got to be critical of ourselves at all times. We’re going to focus on the things we did not so good and try to improve them.”

The secondary, playing without Dax Hill and Bryan Cook, suffered a couple of losses (Jalen Davis is in line to be the starting slot corner. The Bengals need more from that position in coverage. The safety depth is lacking, and Demetrius Knight also had a bad rep as he allowed a touchdown pass). But still, overall, the action was very competitive throughout practice. The Bears made plays, but the Bengals were making more.

Even in good stretches of practice for the Bears’ offense, it never went too long between splash plays and sacks by the Bengals’ defensive line.

“Our defensive line validated what’s been a hard month for us,” Ted Karras said. “A hard good month. It’s been back and forth. That’s a real unit over there.”

If you’ve had the thought that the Bengals’ offensive line has been struggling, it’s been more about how good the Bengals’ pass rush is. Before the scrimmage that ended practice, I counted Lawrence in the backfield four times, Murphy in the backfield three times, TJ Slaton had a nice day, Cashius Howell making three plays and Jonathan Allen making two plays.

The Bengals’ pass rush was by far the most impactful position group on the field on Thursday, and Dexter Lawrence was the best player on the field. Karras, who has been going up against Lawrence every day, said, “It validated a lot of my insecurities” as he watched Lawrence take over this practice against a different center and a different offensive line.

The Bengals’ defense wasn’t perfect, but a great pass rush can make up for a lot. Standout moments up front gave the Bengals’ defense a lot to celebrate all day. The Bengals’ defense had more splash plays than the Bears’ offense.

“The D-Line is a DB’s best friend,” Turner said. “They were getting back there.”

Hill and Cook continue to progress, and the secondary will look a lot better with those impact pieces in the mix.

“With the (secondary) we have, I’m excited,” Turner said.

If you were keeping score on Thursday, then because of the defensive line’s havoc the Bengals’ defense would have had a slight edge over the Bears’ offense leading up to the final period of practice.

The linebackers had smooth moments in coverage, Knight made impressive tackles on run blitzes and the edges blew up a couple of play action passes. Battle stuffed a run and let the Bears know about it, and he killed a play later on with a blitz.

The Bengals’ defense was acting like it was winning based on its body language, and the Bears’ offense looked like the unit that was searching for answers for the bulk of the day.

Then for the final period of practice, the teams essentially scrimmaged and went through end-of-game situations twice.

The Bengals won both times.

They won because of their defense.

“We were talking on the sideline before that period,” Murphy said. “We’ve got to end it out regardless of what the offense does. We’ve got to show them what we’re about.”

Here was the situation.

The Bears had the ball with the score tied, a few minutes left and a running clock. Chicago opened the drive with an alarming explosive pass down the field that was an easy throw for Williams.

The pressure was building for the Bengals’ defense.

The Bears called a screen. Cashius Howell, lined up on the three-technique at defensive tackle in the two-minute defense, saw it coming.

“I saw the red sea part,” Howell said. “I kept going to the quarterback and impacted him to the point where he floated it up there.”

While Howell screamed forward, Lawrence dropped back. The eight-year veteran knew that Johnson called a lot of screens, felt Williams drifting back in the pocket and made an adjustment to play the screen.

Let Barrett Carter describe what happened next.

“I saw the ball get tipped (by Lawrence),” Carter said. “As a defense, we need to get those. I’m thinking, ‘Who’s the closest to it?’ And then I see this large man under the ball. I was thinking, ‘Please, Dex, just catch it.’ I didn’t know if he had the ball skills or not. He did. I’m glad he’s on my team.”

Lawrence, who had a pick and a 37-yard return last season, delivered an unforgettable training camp play with the interception.

Pandemonium ensued.

“I was deep (down the field),” Battle said. “I didn’t get to see it. But I heard it. Crazy. That’s a good addition right there.”

Lawrence wrecked the practice all day. It was fitting that he delivered the biggest highlight.

Also, don’t overlook the contribution of Howell on the pick, or the fact that the rookie was out there in the biggest moment of training camp.

“Cashius, we’ve seen that all camp,” Murphy said. “He’s an explosive dude.”

Howell’s best moment was earlier in the practice. He looked like he got banged up on a pressure that he generated. He was limping a bit but stayed in the game. On the very next play, he blew up a run.

Jonathan Allen said about Howell, “He’ll be in this league for a long time and he’ll make an immediate impact. What else could you ask for?”

The party was just getting started.

The Bengals’ offense went into four-minute mode and scored a game-winning field goal. But because of a four-minute offense that stalled, the Bears had a bit of time left at the end.

First, Lawrence got a pressure. Then, he got a sack. He killed the drive. The Bengals “won” the game.

“It’s what we’ve been seeing for years,” Murphy said about Lawrence. “That’s just him. Getting on the quarterback’s toes. Disrupting the pocket. Pushing the pocket, and we’re going to burn the edge. Make it extremely messy for the quarterback.”

Practice wasn’t over yet. The Bengals and Bears ran it back one more time for an end-of-game situation.

When the Bengals couldn’t run out the clock, they punted the ball back to the Bears. Caleb Williams and Chicago’s offense took the field around the 10-yard line.

“The message is don’t stop,” Lawrence said. “Never stop. Keep going and keep bringing it.”

Murphy was the closer with back-to-back sacks. The second sack was a safety.

On his first sack, he used his long arms to create leverage and beat the left tackle. The second sack was supposed to be a twist between Murphy and Allen. But as Murphy read the play at full speed after the snap, he made an adjustment. He showed twist, went inside, used a jab pass rush move and got around the edge.

The Bears ended up running one more play, and more pressure from the Bengals’ pass rush forced an overthrow that went to Davis for a practice-ending interception.

The defense had a lot to celebrate. It was just a joint practice, but it still mattered to the defense that the unit found a way to finish this time.

The unit hopes that this is the start of something.

“Practice was solid,” Carter said. “A lot of room to grow. A lot of plays that weren’t made that need to be made. Good start, but nowhere near our standard. Nowhere near what it can and will be. Good to build off of, but not enough.”