NFL Week 10 Bengals at Titans: Cincinnati’s goat of the week

Finger-pointing has now become part and parcel of the final seasons of the Marvin Lewis era. After a dismal performance last week against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Cincinnati Bengals put up quite a fight against an equally-scrappy Tennessee Titans team on their home turf.

While issues were prevalent all over the place, some usual suspects popped up on Sunday in their close loss in Tennessee. Cast your vote and sound off on the Bengals’ Week 10 goat of the week!

Offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehi: Though he avoided a couple of would-be holding calls, Ogbuehi was beat badly on a couple more obvious plays. The biggest gaffe on his part was his allowance of a strip-sack to Brian Orakpo, who beat him soundly off of the edge. Stop us if you’ve heard that one before...

Defensive back Josh Shaw: The third-year defensive back has had some nice moments with the Bengals, but when he was pressed into higher-profile service on Sunday because of injuries, he struggled. Of the six third down penalties that resulted in first downs for the Titans offense, Shaw committed three. One of which was on Eric Decker on the game-winning drive in the red zone.

Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick: Cincinnati put some heavy money into Kirkpatrick this offseason and he hasn’t responded all that well. He hasn’t logged a single interception this year and continues to be victimized—particularly on third down. Although Kirkpatrick forced the important fumble by Corey Davis, he also allowed Rishard Matthews to have a few nice catches on third down to extend drives.

Linebacker Vontaze Burfict: While he’s a perennial Pro Bowl player when he’s on the field, No. 55 continues to remain emotionally-explosive. The personal fouls and touching of an official calls against him on Sunday were questionable at best, but his lack of awareness regarding his reputation hurt his team as they clung to a late lead that dissipated.

Kicker Randy Bullock: It’s interesting what one little point can mean in an NFL game. Bullock missed an extra point in his return from injury and nearly missed another, but the redacted point made the Bengals’ offense eventually have to try for a touchdown at the end of the game instead of a field goal try, which would have been more manageable.