Bengals defense held player's-only meeting in search of answers

Cincinnati Bengals defenders held a private meeting after the team’s overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 5.

So says veteran cornerback Mike Hilton, who told reporters that the unit fully understands it isn’t upholding its end of the bargain.

“I know we’ve been playing like —- for real, honestly,” Hilton said, according to Ben Baby of ESPN. “And we know we have to turn around for us to have a chance to make this run, but that’s the thing about this game. You all have another opportunity to go out there and prove yourself.”

The stroke of accountability isn’t surprising given what we know about the core leaders in the locker room.

But for fans, it’s probably nice to hear after the defense has been almost historically bad. The latest mishap was allowing 41 points to the Ravens on a day Joe Burrow threw for nearly 400 yards with five touchdowns.

More went into the loss to the Ravens, of course — like the controversial overtime play calls from Zac Taylor. But if the defense had even league-average play in a handful of the losses so far, the team might have a much better record than 1-4.

Hilton and the defense have a chance to show things will change on primetime Sunday night against the New York Giants.