Cincinnati Bengals running back Giovani Bernard (25) runs against San Francisco 49ers nose tackle Ian Williams (93) during the second half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
The Cincinnati Bengals will be playing the San Francisco 49ers in their first home game of the year this Sunday, September 15th at 1:00pm EST on FOX.
For the 49ers, the story of their Week 1 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was their defense. The 49ers D forced 4 turnovers while sacking Jameis Winston 3 times. Three of the four turnovers were interceptions thrown by Winston and 2 of those interceptions were returned for touchdowns. 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on the other hand went 18 of 27 for 166 yards passing with 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
The 49ers running game was not very strong with Raheem Mostert rushing for 40 yards on 9 attempts and Matt Breida added 37 yards on the ground on 15 attempts. The 49ers are going to have to be more efficient if they want to win Sunday.
Even though the Bengals lost their first game in Week 1 they should be very confident given how they played the Seahawks this past Sunday. The Bengals offense looked good, even great at times but just could not get that score they needed in the second half despite being in Seattle territory 3 times in the 3rd quarter. The Bengals defense looked even better only allowing 233 total yards and getting 4 sacks of Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson. Andy Dalton was 35 of 51 for 418 yards and 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. The Bengals offense ranks 10th in the league after 1 week and their defense ranks 5th in the NFL heading into Week 2.
Just like the 49ers, the Bengals running game was not strong. Joe Mixon had 6 carries for only 10 yards before hurting his ankle last Sunday and Giovani Bernard had 7 carries for only 21 yards. The Bengals run game has to better and they must get their running backs more involved if they want to win on Sunday.
