Bengals come up short in Burrow’s NFL debut

At the end of the game, Randy Bullock missed a 31-yard field goal and Los Angeles pulled out a 16-13 win at Paul Brown Stadium to spoil the opener for the Bengals, who are rebuilding around the No. 1 overall draft pick and the only rookie quarterback from his draft class to start in Week 1.

Burrow had to dial up his own number to collect his first career touchdown, running in from 23 yards out late in the first quarter to open the scoring, and Cincinnati never trailed until the fourth quarter. A rare Joe Mixon fumble gave the Chargers a short field with the game tied, and the visitors took their first lead on a 22-yard field goal from Michael Badgley with 8:56 left.

Just as it seemed the Bengals' offense was going to answer the call, Burrow ran into trouble and attempted a shovel pass that went right into the hands of Chargers defensive end Melvin Ingram at the 24-yard line with 5:13 remaining.

The Bengals defense came up with a stop to give Burrow a chance at redemption, and he almost pulled it off when he connected with A.J. Green in the end zone with 7 seconds left. Green was called for offensive pass interference, forcing Cincinnati to try to send the game to overtime with a field goal. Bullock’s kick went wide right.

Cincinnati led 7-6 at halftime and 13-6 late in the third quarter, but the Chargers tied the game on Joshua Kelley’s 5-yard touchdown, and Mixon’s first fumble since the 2017 finale turned the tide in L.A.'s favor for good.

Burrow had overcome pressure in the first half to get the Bengals on the board first. He found A.J. Green for a 13-yard pass on third down from the Chargers' 36-yard line, and two plays later, Burrow found a hole and burst through for his long touchdown run.

The Bengals defense did their part to protect the lead as long as they could, forcing the Chargers to punt their first three drives in the first quarter and then holding them to a pair of field goals before halftime. Badgley hit a 24-yard field goal with 7:10 left in the second quarter, then made a 43-yarder at the end of the half, but the Bengals forced turnovers on downs during the two drives in between those. Sam Hubbard stopped Chargers quarterback Tyrod Taylor on both the fourth-down stops.

Los Angeles made sure Burrow received a proper welcome to the NFL, hitting him multiple times and getting to him for three sacks in the first half. Right tackle Bobby Hart gave up two of those sacks, and the other came when Joey Bosa blew past left tackle Jonah Williams, who also was making his NFL debut.

Burrow completed 23 of 36 passes for 193 yards with five of those going to Green, who successfully made his return to the field for the first time since 2018. Green missed all of last season with an ankle injury and finished with a team-high 51 yards receiving.