With the Cincinnati Bengals' long-awaited joint practice with the Chicago Bears looming, the Bengals had one final practice open to media members on Aug. 18 with meetings to follow Aug. 19. The practice before the big practice Aug. 18 outside Paycor Stadium didn't do much to build excitement toward the Aug. 20 joint practice, though. Cincinnati's defense made things frustrating for the offense, and the offense seldom attempted to stretch the field and be explosive. You could probably say the defense won the day with a fair degree of confidence. So, now the countdown to the closed-door practice with the Bears is on. That will be followed by the teams matching up for the second of three preseason games on Aug. 22 at Paycor Stadium (7 p.m.).
Here's what we learned from Day 13 of Bengals training camp, plus what the players are expecting from the joint practice: How hard is the Bengals defense making it for the offense? Josh Newton picked off Joe Flacco during a team period on Aug. 18. It was one of two times Flacco was intercepted on the day, and it was emblematic of the Bengals' defense looking like the stronger of the two units on Day 13. There were few, if any, deep shots by the offense. Designed runs were blown up in the backfield. Perhaps as a sign of one of the longer days of camp for the offense, a touchdown that Ja'Marr Chase managed to reel in ended with him drop-kicking the ball away as if to say: "Finally."
Tight end Mike Gesicki was denied a touchdown near the goal line by a visiting officiating crew, which prompted frustration from him (Gesicki later connected with the official and apologized). Asked about what the offense showed on Day 13, Gesicki explained it like this: "Our offense, I feel like, is built on taking what the defense gives us, and that was it today." Fair enough. Joe Burrow and Co. played a lot of the familiar hits, such as quick out routes for Chase. To their credit, it's worth perfecting those plays because we know they'll lean on them at times in 2026. But this is still a Bengals team seeking more when it comes to explosive, game-breaking plays. In the absence of those on Aug. 18, plus a few highlight-reel plays by the defense, and it's fair to think the defense won another day of Bengals camp. Asked how hard the defense made it on the offense on Day 13, Newton initially invited a reporter to answer the question for himself (and that reporter would have said the defense looked pretty impressive and overwhelming for most of the morning). But Newton eventually answered the question himself, and it was a response that spoke to what is hopefully significant growth from last season's disappointing showing.
"I'm proud to see that the offense finally gets a challenge every day. Not just every two or three days," Newton said. "I'm pretty sure they appreciate it more than we're proud of ourselves because they want to get better. They want somebody to push them. They don't want to just be the offense-driven team ... They're still coming with it. They ain't backing down. They're still trying to throw over our heads (and) take shots down the field. We know what kind of players they've got over there. That's self-explanatory. We've got the best receiver in the league, the best (receiver) duo in the league, the best quarterback in the league. "It's fun going against them. I love going against them, and they're gonna keep bringing it every day." Bengals vs. Bears (in practice) | What to expect After participating in two joint practices in 2024, the Bengals opted for none in 2025. The joint-practice drought ends Thursday, Aug. 20, when the Bears come to the Paycor Stadium complex. Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor and starting quarterback Burrow will address media members, too, so the morning will take the shape of something loosely resembling a game. The teams are familiar with one another, having played Nov. 2, 2025, at Paycor Stadium. It's also well-known that Taylor's brother, Press Taylor, is Chicago's offensive coordinator.
All that familiarity could lead to some interesting moments. Scuffles are possible, too, although no one wants anything like what the Bengals and Los Angeles Rams produced in 2022. What's most important is that Cincinnati gets the work in that it needs to against the defending NFC North champions. Some players could end up using the practice more than the actual preseason game the teams will play Aug. 22. "I think it's just good to go out there and see different looks," Gesicki said. "We've been going against our defense, so we see similar looks every day. We're seeing the same plays, same players, same guys in man coverage. Now, we get to different schemes, different players, different tendencies, so just a bunch of different looks." Watch for updates from the joint practice on "X" from Enquirer Bengals reporters Kelsey Conway (@KelseyLConway) and Pat Brennan (@PBrennanENQ). This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Bengals defense has strong showing ahead of joint-practice with Bears