Bengals coming off crushing blowout and Broncos have lost consecutive games on walk-off field goals

Cincinnati (2-1) at Denver (1-2)

Monday, 8:15 p.m. EDT, ABC.

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Minnesota Vikings’ Josh Metellus (44) makes an interception against Cincinnati Bengals tight end Mike Gesicki (88) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Denver Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins (27) carries during the second half an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning (6) is chased by Minnesota Vikings linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) rolls out during the first half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

BetMGM NFL odds: Broncos by 7 1/2.

Against the spread: Bengals 1-2, Broncos 0-3.

Series record: Broncos lead 22-12.

Last meeting: Bengals beat Broncos 30-24 in overtime on Dec. 28, 2024, in Cincinnati.

Last week: Bengals lost to Vikings 48-10; Broncos lost to Chargers 23-20.

Bengals offense: overall (32), rush (32), pass (27), scoring (24).

Bengals defense: overall (25), rush (22), pass (25), scoring (26).

Broncos offense: overall (19-T), rush (8), pass (25), scoring (17).

Broncos defense: overall (19), rush (21), pass (18), scoring (16).

Turnover differential: Bengals minus-4; Broncos minus-1.

WR Tee Higgins had 11 receptions for 131 yards and a career-high three touchdowns in the Bengals’ 30-24 Week 17 overtime victory against Denver last season. He has only seven catches for 104 yards and a TD in the first three games this season.

QB Bo Nix is off to a sputtering start. Bad footwork led to three overthrows of open receivers on deep passes last week that would have allowed the Broncos to beat the Chargers and vault into the AFC West lead. All of Sean Payton’s Super Bowl talk this summer along with the insistence that Nix was an elite passer might have put too much pressure on the second-year quarterback.

Cincinnati DE Trey Hendrickson vs. Broncos LT Garett Boles. Hendrickson has two sacks in the first three games along with 15 QB pressures (tied for seventh in the league) and eight quick pressures (tied for third). According to Next Gen Stats, Bolles has allowed only five pressures on 106 pass blocking snaps. The 4.7% pressure rate allowed is the lowest among left tackles with at least 50 pass snaps.

Bengals: QB Joe Burrow is out until mid-December following toe surgery. … TE Noah Fant is in concussion protocol. … DE Shemar Stewart has an ankle injury and could miss his second straight game.

Broncos: Linebacker Dre Greenlaw is on IR and has yet to make his Broncos debut because of a quadriceps injury. … Also dealing with injuries are TE Evan Engram (back) and LB Justin Strnad (foot).

The Broncos beat the Bengals eight consecutive times between 1983 and 1998, but the series has been pretty much even since then with Cincinnati winning three of the past four meetings, including twice in Denver, in 2017 and 2021.

Cincinnati is 5-20 as the road team on “Monday Night Football” but has won its past two. … The Bengals have a 30-57 record in regular-season night games. … QB Jake Browning has thrown five interceptions in seven quarters this season. He threw for a career-high 354 yards in his only Monday night start on Dec. 4, 2023, at Jacksonville. … RB Chase Brown was held to 3 yards on 10 carries last week at Minnesota. His minus-54 yards this season before contact are 24 fewer than any other running back since the NFL’s Next Gen Stats began tracking in 2018. … WR Ja’Marr Chase is averaging 146.3 receiving yards in five Monday night games and has five touchdowns. … TE Noah Fant played three seasons with Denver and is coming off a five-catch game last week. … LB Demetrius Knight is one of three rookies in the league with at least five tackles in each of the first three weeks. … The Broncos have lost consecutive games in which they didn’t trail in the fourth quarter only to watch their opponents make walk-off field goals with no time remaining. … QB Bo Nix has thrown a TD pass in 12 consecutive games. … Nix has won his past six home starts and is 2-1 in his career in prime time. … RB J.K. Dobbins is one of two RBs (James Cook) with a TD run in each of the first three games so far. … WR Marvin Mims Jr. had eight catches for 103 yards and two TDs in last season’s game against the Bengals. … LB Nik Bonitto had two sacks last week. He has gotten to the QB in eight straight home games. … CB Ja’Quan McMillian has forced a fumble in two of Denver’s three games. … S Brandon Jones had 11 tackles and an interception against the Chargers.

WR Courtland Sutton has sandwiched big games around a one-catch performance at Indianapolis in Week 2. In the opener, Sutton caught six passes for 61 yards and a touchdown and last week he caught six passes for 118 yards and a score.

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The formula for success on offense for the San Francisco 49ers has been pretty consistent since Kyle Shanahan took over as coach in 2017.

When the Niners can control the clock, grind out yards on the ground and wear down the opposition, that typically leads to good results.

That’s what has made the past two games so surprising. San Francisco has been forced to go to a pass-happy approach with the running game struggling, but have still managed to win despite passing on nearly two-thirds of their offensive plays.

The 49ers (3-0) will look to get the ground game going on Sunday when they host the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-1).

“Every week’s a new week,” said running back Christian McCaffrey, who is averaging only 3.4 yards per carry. “The season comes with a lot of different challenges. Really what it comes down to is executing your job as best as you can and playing beyond the X’s and O’s and taking care of the ball and doing stuff like that. But every play has a life of its own. Every game is different.”

The 49ers have won back-to-back games while failing to rush for 80 yards in either — matching their total number of wins with fewer than 80 yards rushing in the first 145 regular-season and playoff games under Shanahan.

San Francisco has no TD runs through three games for the fourth time ever and backup Mac Jones became the first Niners QB to win back-to-back starts with at least 39 pass attempts since Steve Young in 1998.

The Niners are hoping to get starting quarterback Brock Purdy back this week after he missed two games with a toe injury and would like to be able to establish the run again.

The Jaguars are also trying to change a trend, having lost 11 of their last 12 road games. Doing it out west will be especially challenging for a team that has a 4-15 record all-time on the West Coast with three of those four wins coming in Oakland.

Jacksonville has won both home games this season, while losing in Week 2 at Cincinnati.

“If we can play good, complementary football, better than we did last week, I like what we do,” defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said.

The Niners have the tough task of replacing star edge rusher Nick Bosa after he went down with a season-ending knee injury last week. Bosa was the one proven pass rusher on the roster and now San Francisco will have to rely on first-round rookie Mykel Williams, and veterans Bryce Huff and Yetur Gross-Matos to generate pressure.

“Obviously it’s a huge blow to our team, but we move forward,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “I hate to say next man up mentality because you can’t just replace him with one player. But the mission is still the same.”

The Jaguars lead the league with 13 dropped passes, including six by Brian Thomas Jr. It’s one of several self-inflicted woes the offense is dealing with in coach Liam Coen’s first season.

Jacksonville has been flagged six times for holding, five times for illegal shifts, four times for false starts and once for a delay of game.

“We are still trying to figure out what it is truly we are best at in the pass game and what that looks like,” quarterback Trevor Lawrence said.

Jaguars defensive tackle Arik Armstead is returning to the city where he spent the first nine years (2015-23) of his NFL career. He raved about Shanahan as well as McCaffrey and said he’s most looking forward to reuniting with former teammates after the game.

“You go through a lot of ups and downs with people, just like I’m doing here,” said Armstead, the reigning Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. “That’s what I cherish the most is those relationships, those bonds.

“You’ll forget about games, and you’ll forget about wins and losses or stats at times. But the people that you were with, you don’t really forget about that.”

Jacksonville’s two-way rookie Travis Hunter hasn’t made a huge impact yet this season with just 76 yards receiving on offense and one pass defensed and nine tackles on defense. With eight snaps on offense this week, Hunter will become the fourth player to play at least 100 snaps both ways in the past 20 seasons.

“I think it’s awesome,” McCaffrey said. “It’s rare you see somebody play on both sides of the ball. So more power to him.”

McCaffrey said he last played both ways in high school when he was a running back and safety with former NFL star Brian Dawkins as his position coach.

“That was the best,” he said. “I had a lot of fun playing under him.”

AP Pro Football Writer Mark Long contributed to this report

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