The Cincinnati Bengals haven’t been used to starting the season 1-0.

Since Zac Taylor took over as head coach in 2019, he and the Bengals had been 1-12 during the first two weeks of a season. Since Joe Burrow became a Bengal in 2020, Cincinnati has mustered one win in Week 1.

That win came during the 2021 season — when the Bengals reached Super Bowl LVI.

So what are the keys to early season success? Some of it comes from the turnover battle, in which Cincinnati had the edge 2-0 at the Cleveland Browns last Sunday, and some of it comes from home field advantage, according to Taylor.

“I think that goes a long way in deciding these early season games is the discipline aspect of all this stuff,” Taylor said. “And we’re excited to be at home. I mean to be 1-0 and come home, and I know our fans are juiced up, and so I know these guys, that’s going to be a big part of this game too is using the home field advantage to our advantage there.”

Cincinnati Bengals record after Weeks 1 and 2 under head coach Zac Taylor

2025	1-0 (at Cleveland, Jacksonville)
2024	0-2 (New England, at Kansas City)
2023	0-2 (at Cleveland, Baltimore)
2022	0-2 (Pittsburgh, at Dallas)
2021	1-1 (Minnesota, at Chicago)
2020	0-2 (Los Angeles Chargers, at Cleveland)
2019	0-2 (Seattle, at San Francisco)

This week the Jacksonville Jaguars travel to Cincinnati and will be the Bengals’ first home opponent of the year.

The Bengals will be introduced to reigning Heisman Trophy winner and No. 2 overall pick in this past spring’s draft Travis Hunter. A two-way player at wide receiver and cornerback, Hunter won the Biletnikoff Award and Bednarik Award as the top wideout and defensive player in college football last year.

Hunter caught six passes for 33 yards in Jacksonville’s Week 1 win over the Carolina Panthers. According to John Oehser of the Jaguars, Hunter played six snaps on defense, and Jaguars head coach Liam Coen thinks Hunter’s role on defense will “expand” against Cincinnati.

“He’s a really good talent,” Taylor said. “He’s got great quickness. I think he’s got really top notch hands in terms of the balls he’s able to catch. Not easy to bring down. You can see the breakaway elements to him. He almost, almost kind of got away with one in the last game where you could see he’s got that element to break it away and make it a big play, and you saw that on his tape from Colorado. So a guy with a lot of confidence.”

All parking lots at Paycor Stadium on Sunday will open at 9 a.m. and all gates at 11:30 a.m. Pregame at The Banks will begin at 10 a.m.

The theme for Sunday’s home game will be to “Open In Orange” for a second year in a row, and the Ruler of the Jungle will be former defensive end Sam Hubbard who retired after last season.

“I think for this first one to be awesome, just to send the message the team, we got to do our best to start 2-0, and for all the great things that we want to do this year, it starts with playing great at home, and that’s a collective effort from our players, our coaches, our fan base,” Taylor said. “So I’m excited to set off 2025 the right way at home. And orange. We’re oranged out, and the jerseys look great and our guys will be fired up.”

Third-year cornerback DJ Turner II caught the game-sealing interception with 1:24 left in the fourth quarter against the Browns, and fellow third-year safety Jordan Battle snagged a pick in the third that allowed kicker Evan McPherson to boot his first field goal of the season that also gave the Bengals the lead back for good.

Cincinnati’s offense seemed to stall in the fourth quarter. Burrow and the Bengals lost 18 yards of offense in the final frame after gaining 25 in the third. Their seven yards of second-half offense compares to 134 yards and two touchdowns in the first.

Burrow went 14-for-23 for 113 yards and a touchdown against the Browns in the season opener. Chase Brown was the only running back with a carry and he had 21 attempts for 43 yards. The Bengals had 45 yards of rushing offense against Cleveland.

Wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins combined for 59 yards on five catches in their season debut. Defensive end Trey Hendrickson had three tackles, three quarterback pressures and a sack at Cleveland. Turner and linebacker Logan Wilson had two passes defended apiece.

Last week, Cincinnati scored a touchdown on its opening drive for the first time under Taylor, according to the Bengals. Burrow said the Bengals strive to gain the upper hand early and that “we want to start fast in every game.”

“We want to put the opposing defense on their heels, go get points in those first couple drives and see how the defense is going to change, see where we can manipulate them, where we can attack them,” Burrow said. “I think starting fast is kind of an overarching theme. Yeah, you want to go out and be 2-0, but you want to play great on offense. You want to attack every single day trying to get better. You want to not miss out on any reps throughout the week where you could possibly improve. There’s a lot of things that go into it.”

Sunday’s matchup pits Burrow against 2021 No. 1 overall draft pick and quarterback Trevor Lawrence. They met in the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2020, and they’ve also met in Week 4 in 2021 and Week 13 of 2023 in the NFL.

Jacksonville also forced two turnovers in its win against Carolina, and the Jaguars’ 200 rushing yards ranks third in the NFL. They also scored on all five red zone trips producing three field goals and two touchdowns.

Taylor knows the talent that’s going to be on the stage in this week’s game. Both the Bengals and Jaguars have it.

It’ll be interesting to watch the wide receiver matchups, especially if there are times where Hunter is defending Chase or Higgins.

The latest Burrow-Lawrence battle will be fun. Burrow said the two have spoken before during game weeks. There could be plenty of passing in this game.

This week will be another good test for the Bengals defense, and for their offense, a chance to get in a rhythm with the crowd on their side.

“They got a really good defense,” Taylor said. “I think these guys play well. They’ve drafted over there these last couple years and coordinators (have) done a great job with them. So overall, it’s a good team. We got our work cut out for us.”