Detroit Lions vs. Cincinnati Bengals preview: 6 keys to victory

The Detroit Lions (3-1) and Cincinnati Bengals (2-2) will square off in a Week 5 NFC North vs. AFC North matchup in Ohio. Entering this game, these two teams are headed in different directions. The Lions are riding a three-game winning streak and have scored 124 points over that time. Meanwhile, the Bengals’ starting quarterback, Joe Burrow, injured his toe in Week 2, and Cincinnati has lost both games with Jake Browning as their starting signal caller. In those two games, the Bengals lost 48-10 to the Carson Wentz-led Vikings (the largest margin of loss in Bengals history) and then lost 28-3 to the Broncos last Monday night. The 63-point differential is the most over that timeframe in Bengals history.

If the Lions want to win their fourth game in a row, they’ll need to follow the keys to victory laid out in this week’s Honolulu Blueprint.

For a detailed look at the opposing scheme, make sure you check out our complementary breakdown piece: Lions Week 5 Preview: Breaking down Bengals’ offensive and defensive schemes.

Key 1: Drag them into the deep, dark abyss

When the Bengals rehired Al Golden, this time as their defensive coordinator, they made it a point to improve their run defense to accommodate his scheme. They signed former Packer starting nose tackle T.J. Slaton (6-foot-5, 330 pounds) and reserve nose tackle Mike Pennel (6-foot-4, 332) to pair with B.J. Hill (6-foot-311), and former Michigan Wolverine Kris Jenkins (6-foot-3, 311).

With a lot of bigger bodies in the trenches, the Bengals have leaned on a rotation to keep them fresh. Starters Slaton and Hill see around 50-60% of snaps, while Pennel and Jenkins put in 40-50%, with the nose tackles seeing a slightly lower percentage. After a stellar opening week, things looked promising, but since the Burrow injury, the offense has struggled to stay on the field, and opponents have used the run to wear down the Bengals’ defensive line.

Outside of the Bengals’ performance against a Quinshon Judkins-less Browns, Cincinnati has given up nearly 500 yards on the ground on 96 carries over three games; allowing almost 165 yards per game and 5.15 yards per carry.

Meanwhile, the Lions offense is capable of matching those numbers. Over the last three games, the Lions have run for 510 yards on 97 carries; an average of 170 per game and 5.25 yards per carry.

The game plan here should call for the Lions running Jahmyr Gibbs early, leaning on his speed to force the Bengals’ big bodies into chase mode. Then, as the Bengals’ interior wears down, hit them with a heavy dose of power from the hometown kid, David Montgomery.

One defensive adjustment the Bengals have made since Burrow went down is to try and be more aggressive in pressuring the opposing quarterback. The problem is, it’s hard to make sweeping changes on the fly, and the on-field results show it’s not working.

Currently, they are blitzing at the lowest rate in the NFL (12.7%); they’re a bottom-10 team in quarterback pressures (45, 23rd), QB pressure rate (27.3%, 28th), sacks (6, 24th), and sack rate (3.6%, 27th). Last week against the Broncos, they produced just seven pressures and recorded zero sacks. Individually, they have only two defensive linemen with a double-digit pass rush win rate: Trey Hendrickson (20.8%, 18th) and rookie Shemar Stewart (14.6%, 45th). However, Stewart is currently injured and not practicing.

And just like with the run game, the Lions offense is on the opposite end of the spectrum. The Lions have not allowed a sack in three games, have allowed only four sacks on the season (3rd), and have ceded just 42 pressures (6th). Hendrickson spends the majority of his time at right defensive end, meaning he’ll draw Lions left tackle Taylor Decker, who has only allowed one sack on the season.

The Lions will have a real shot to keep Jared Goff’s jersey clean again this week, and if that happens, he’ll have plenty of time to cook. Currently, Goff has a passer rating of 113.0 (second), a completion percentage of 73.8% (second), a completion percentage above expectation of +8.3% (second), and an EPA per dropback of 0.24 (third).

“The accuracy that he’s had, handling checks at the line. All that, just everything, he’s just so much better at,” Lions offensive coordinator John Morton said of Goff. “And he’s played a while, so he’s comfortable in this offense and where we’re at. And that’s good for a quarterback because you want him to go out there and not think about a lot of stuff.”

Overall, the Lions are averaging 226 passing yards per game (sixth), while the Bengals are giving up, on average, 262 passing yards per game (30th). The biggest culprits of the Bengals’ leakage in coverage: tackling, communication, and missed assignments. Entering this game, the Bengals have given up 1,048 yards through the air, with 704 coming via yards after the catch (most YAC allowed in the NFL).

Sit back in a clean pocket, dish out accurate passes, and let your boys run.

Key 3: 3rd down efficiency

The Lions have been working to improve their third-down consistency, and they’ve made strides on both sides of the ball.

On offense, they are currently successful on 41.5% of their third-down attempts (11th in the NFL). But they’ve been improved of late. Last week, they completed 43% of their third downs against the Browns, and 50% against the Ravens the week prior.

Working opposite them is a Bengals defense that has struggled to get off the field. On the season, the Bengals are allowing teams to convert 49.1% of their third downs (30th), and last week, they allowed the Broncos to find success at a 57% rate.

As for the Lions’ defense, they’re allowing teams to convert third downs at a 42.7% rate (22nd). However, the number dropped to 21% last week against the Browns and is closer to what they believe they’re capable of, according to Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard.

“Third down, trying to get that percentage down,” Sheppard said on Thursday. “We held them to three of 14. But that’s what we had been doing; it was just the penalties a lot of times. In a lot of those games, half of the third-down conversions were by way of penalty. So, the players cleaning that stuff up, playing with clean hands at the top of the route, was an emphasis. Those guys did that.”

The Lions’ defense will have a chance to keep things going this week, as the Bengals have only found success on third down 36% of the time (23rd). Things have been even worse over the last two weeks with Browning under center, as they’ve only achieved 27% success on third down in Week 3 and 18% success in Week 4.

Key 4: Clog Cincy’s inside run game

The Bengals run a version of the Shanahan wide zone rushing attack, but they’ve been unable to find any success with it in 2025. As a general rule, they try to run behind and inside their offensive tackles—both while on the move or static—opting for inside runs 59.2% of the time (second-highest rate in the NFL).

The problem is that the offensive line is not opening holes, and defenses are muddying up the middle of their running lanes. And when there are no gaps to find, the running backs are either running into the wash for a loss or hitting a cutback lane with no blockers and trying to win on their own.

Currently, the Bengals’ run game is last in the NFL in:

No matter which gap they try to run in, their EPA is in the negative:

Meanwhile, the Lions’ run defense is No. 4 in DVOA, holding teams under 94 rushing yards per game (seventh) and is No. 1 in EPA allowed per rush (-0.23). Look for Sheppard to lean on his big interior defensive line to clog the middle and take away the Bengals’ gaps.

“I mean, we’ve got guys for days,” Sheppard said of his interior defensive linemen. “I just tell (DL coach Kacy Rodgers) Kace, you just roll them in. I don’t care who’s in the game. We’ve got four defensive tackles that are all starting-caliber players (including Alim McNeill), and that’s something new around here. You guys know. And it’s a joy, I’m glad my first year doing this, I’m able to just have the comfortability that we can roll those guys as we see fit as the game goes.”

Key 5: Keep pressure on Browning

While the Lions coaches are saying they don’t see a difference between the offensive scheme with Burrow on injured reserve and Browning under center, that is surely their way of not tipping their hand for what they’re seeing on film—because things are very different.

First, there are little things, such as Burrow operating mainly out of the shotgun and Browning working mainly under center to help him with play-action. They’ve also tried to dial up Browning’s aggressive tendencies, but that led to five interceptions in six quarters of football (and just 59 passing attempts). The following week, they dialed things back, which fixed the turnovers, but left them wanting more production: just 125 yards on 25 passing attempts.

Then there’s Browning’s lack of movement in the pocket and rushed decision-making, which have added to an already difficult situation. Over his last two starts, when pressured, Browning has often simply taken his first read, as he has either felt he didn’t have time to move to his second read or he trusts his accuracy more than he should. Overall, he’s been either overaggressive and reckless or subdued and ineffective.

Pressure has been his nemesis. So let’s take a look at PFF pass block grades for the Bengals’ starting OL, along with their pressures allowed in the last two games:

The pressure has come from all over, with no real safe place for Browning to hide.

Meanwhile, Detroit has been stacking up pressures all season. Through four games, they have 59 pressures (ninth), a 42.1% pressure rate (fifth), have produced 14 sacks (second), along with an NFL-leading 10% sack rate.

“Well, when you’re able to play sticky on the backend, the coverage and rush go hand-in-hand,” Lions coach Dan Campbell explained earlier in the week. “The stickier you play, you buy yourself a tick to be able to get to the quarterback. He may have to hold it, he’s got to make a perfect throw, lot of times what happens is that’s a sack or it’s a sack-fumble, or it’s a tipped ball or it’s an ill-advised throw that turns into a takeaway.

Key 6: Limit explosives, avoid penalties

If the Bengals are going to move the ball on the Lions, there are probably two ways to do it: Connecting with their elite wide receiver duo or taking advantage of a referee group that likes to throw flags by playing a Packer-style of YOLO ball by throwing deep and hoping for a 40-yard pass interference flag.

While the Bengals’ passing game has looked rushed and Browning has shown poor decision-making, they still have two incredibly talented wide receivers—Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins—who are begging the offense to get them the ball. The Bengals don’t take as many deep, aggressive shots as the rest of the NFL, but this is a team that will be looking for a spark.

“If you told me I’m a corner in the League and I get to go out on a big-time stage and match up with those two guys, that’s what you want,” Sheppard said of his corners getting the chance to cover Chase and/or Higgins. “That’s what you want, and you can’t run from it, you can’t hide from it. But also, as a coaching staff, we have to be smart and understand that that is a two-headed monster over there. […] Our guys hear all the things that you guys hear about these two players, and I know the competitive nature of our guys in our room. So, I’m looking forward to the task and challenge at hand. […] A lot of respect for Zac Taylor. I was around him as a player down in Miami. A brilliant offensive mind, and he’s going to find ways to get those guys versus schemed and unschemed targets in this game. And we understand and know that.”

With D.J. Reed placed on injured reserve and Terrion Arnold working through a shoulder injury, the Lions could have some tough decisions to make at corner this week. At this time, Arnold looks like he is on track to start, and the Lions will surely shift Amik Robertson into the starting lineup, but they’ll need to rely on at least one of their backups to see the field in subpackages.

The Lions have three obvious options on hand in veterans Rock Ya-Sin, Avonte Maddox, and Khalil Dorsey. If Sheppard stays with what he’s done previously, Arnold and Robertson start on the outside in base, then Robertson shifts inside in subpackages with Ya-Sin or Dorsey filling in on the outside. The other option is to keep Arnold and Robertson on the outside and ask Maddox to step in at nickel. Both scenarios are good options, and Sheppard believes his reserves will seize the moment.

“I see those guys plug-and-play players,” Sheppard said of his reserve defensive backs. “You’re on an NFL roster, you’re an NFL player. There are no bad players in the NFL. So, to me, it’s next man up. And they hear that too, and they know this could be your one shot. This could be your one opportunity. And don’t view it as pressure, view it as a tremendous and beautiful opportunity and go seize the moment.”

Regardless of which defensive backs find the field, they’ll have a tough assignment dealing with Chase and Higgins, knowing they’re likely the best way for the Bengals to find offensive success. Which makes this one of the most important “keys” to watch in this game.