The gist
- Final: Bengals 30, Eagles 13. Home debut at the Linc, and Cincinnati walked out with it.
- The run game got trucked. Bengals 208 rushing yards. Eagles 70. That's your ballgame.
- Dalton was fine. 12 of 19 for 104 and a 5-yard TD to Carson Steele. He wasn't the problem.
- Preseason ends 0-3. Ravens, Patriots, Bengals — swept.
Well, so much for the tune-up. The Eagles wrapped their 2026 exhibition slate with a 30-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at Lincoln Financial Field, and the box score tells the whole story: 417 total yards for Cincinnati, 210 for Philadelphia, a nine-minute time-of-possession gap, and a 208-70 gulf on the ground. Preseason record: 0-3.
Coming off the fourth-quarter faceplant in Foxborough, the plan on the first true home night was probably to look sturdy for a quarter and coast. Instead, Cincinnati walked out to a 9-0 lead on three Evan McPherson field goals before Jake Elliott finally got Philly on the board with a 45-yarder as the first half expired.
How it unfolded
The third quarter briefly felt competitive. Elliott banged home a 56-yarder to make it 9-6, Cincinnati answered with a Sean Clifford-to-Ke'Shawn Williams 11-yard touchdown at 8:40, and then Dalton found Carson Steele from five yards out at 2:42 to cut it to 16-13. That was the last time the Linc had any real juice.
Kentrel Bullock punched in a 6-yard TD early in the fourth, and 88 seconds later Jamal Haynes ripped off a 39-yard scoring run to make it 30-13. Two rushing scores in a minute-and-a-half, both up the gut, both against a Philly front that spent the night getting moved off the ball. Bullock finished with 14 carries for 85 and the score; on the other side, Dameon Pierce had a nice little burst (4 for 44) but never got a real workload.
| Eagles | Bengals | |
|---|---|---|
| Total yards | 210 | 417 |
| Rushing yards | 70 | 208 |
| First downs | 14 | 25 |
| Time of possession | 25:39 | 34:21 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 2 |
Dalton (12/19, 104, 1 TD) was efficient, protection held up better than the sack line suggests, and Steele's eight catches for 52 was the lone offensive bright spot worth circling. On defense, Mac McWilliams led with seven tackles and rookie edge Keyshawn James-Newby got his first sack. Small wins in a night that was mostly big losses.
What people are saying
The box score did the talking on this one — no locker-room fireworks, no viral clip, just a preseason finale that ended the way most of them do when the starters are in bubble wrap. Philly beat writers noted the same thing we did: 208 rushing yards allowed in an exhibition game where the point is to look organized, not necessarily win.
Our take
Hot take: preseason results are noise, but preseason trends are signal — and getting outrushed by nearly 140 yards in your home tune-up is a trend, not noise. Three games, 41 points scored, 78 allowed. Even with vanilla playbooks, you'd like to at least look like the team you're going to be.
The August scoreboard doesn't matter. The August run-fits absolutely do.
Here's our read: the front seven has some sorting out to do before Week 1, and the RB1 conversation is still unsettled. Pierce flashed, Steele was the most reliable pass-catcher on the field, and Dalton did exactly what a veteran QB2 is supposed to do — kept it clean and got out alive. That is genuinely the point of Game 3.
Are we worried? A little. Are we panicked? Please. This roster is a September team, not an August team. The bar for concern goes up the second the regular season kicks off — and not one minute before.
Next up
Preseason is officially in the rearview. Roster cuts, then the games that count. We'll be back the second the regular-season slate kicks and there are real points on the board to argue about. For a broader look at how this group projects once it matters, our Eagles 2026 season preview is right here.
Until then — if you'd rather back your reads than just shout them, that's literally the game.