CINCINNATI -- There's still about three months until the start of the regular season.
Still, it isn't too early to start previewing the Cincinnati Bengals' year by looking at the past and seeing how they previously fared against the teams they will be facing. Whether they last saw their upcoming opponents one year ago or four, and whether they faced them in the regular season or in the playoffs, there could be something to learn from those meetings.
We began with the first team on the Bengals' 2015 schedule, the Oakland Raiders. We continue with team No. 2, the San Diego Chargers.
In their most recent outing against the Chargers, the biggest lesson the Bengals gleaned involved the running game. Even when they're down, they can still stick with it:
SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
Date of 2015 meeting: Sept. 20, in Cincinnati
Chargers' 2014 record: 9-7
Season series: Chargers lead 19-13
Last time Bengals faced Chargers: San Diego won, 27-10, on Jan. 5, 2014
How the game was lost: Offensive coordinators of the world, take note: if your running game is working well and has helped you keep a game within four points at halftime, stick with it. Then-Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden apparently missed that memo when the Chargers visited for a wild-card round playoff game two years ago. It was in that game that he kept letting the inconsistent Andy Dalton throw, passing 51 times en route to a 17-point defeat.
Meanwhile, after feeding his running backs for 15 carries, 62 yards and a 4.2 yard-per-carry average in the first half, Gruden went away from them in the final two quarters. BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who touched the ball six times, gaining 27 yards in the first half, only had the ball in his hands two more times the rest of the game. Both of those carries came on the first two plays of the third quarter, when he broke loose for a combined gain of 15 yards. Clearly, the run was working. Then suddenly, it wasn't, because Dalton proceeded to pass 34 times in the second half, double the amount of attempts he had during the first two quarters when the game was tight. Combine the exorbitant number of passes with two second-half interceptions and you have the recipe for an ugly playoff loss.
This year's key story line: Not only will this be the first time the Bengals and Chargers have met since the 2013 season playoff game, this will be the first time they have met at Paul Brown Stadium since. While passing may have been Gruden's focus during the chilly playoff game, don't expect that to be atop current offensive coordinator Hue Jackson's objectives. In addition to having a stronger rushing attack that's anchored by rising star Jeremy Hill, he also will be trotting out an offense that will be facing the NFL's reigning fourth-ranked pass defense.