The Cincinnati Bengals ended a run that had lasted through 65 straight games by not allowing a single touchdown in Week 2 at the Houston Texans. It was the kind of result that changes the shape of an early-season NFL scoreboard: one defense erased a streak that had become a fixture, and the Bills now hold the longest active such stretch at 47 consecutive games.
That is why fans searching Nfl Scores Yesterday are landing on this matchup. The Bengals did not just win a game; they snapped a franchise-long pattern of giving up at least one touchdown every time they took the field, a streak that had stretched across 65 consecutive games before this one. In a week when defenses were stacking up rare numbers, that made Cincinnati the headline.
The pressure that drove the result was real. Cincinnati generated 27 pressures on 62 dropbacks against the Texans, its most in a single game since Al Golden took over as defensive coordinator last season. Five Bengals posted at least four pressures, with Jonathan Allen and Boye Mafe each getting seven, Cedric Johnson adding six, Cashius Howell five and Dexter Lawrence four. That kind of disruption does not guarantee a shutout in the touchdown column, but it makes one much more likely.
Week 2 also carried the kind of whiplash that tells you how quickly an NFL season can tilt. The Bears, explosive in Week 1 with 59 points, managed only three against the Vikings, a 56-point drop that is the second-largest in NFL history. The Vikings blitzed Caleb Williams on 27 of his 33 dropbacks before he exited late in the fourth quarter, an 81.8% blitz rate that helped explain how a team can swing from a fireworks show to almost nothing a week later.
That wider picture matters because this was not an isolated defensive oddity. The Ravens also lost after leading by 10 or more points at some point for the first time under Jesse Minter, and the Patriots' pressure on the Steelers held its own on just 18 total dropbacks, when extra rushers produced only 43 passing yards, 2.7 yards per attempt and a 22.2% success rate. Around the league, the numbers kept pointing in the same direction: pressure, disruption and early-season swings are already deciding games.
For the Bengals, the next question is not whether they played a clean defensive game in Week 2. They did. It is whether they can make this more than a one-night break from a streak that had defined them for months. For now, the answer is already written in the standings and in the record book: the touchdown streak is gone, and the Bills are next in line with the longest active one to watch.
