Dexter Lawrence's interception
provides highlight for Bengals in joint practice against Bears
[August 21, 2026]
By CHARLIE GOLDSMITH
CINCINNATI (AP) — In the most extensive action that the Cincinnati
Bengals will get before the start of the regular season, defensive
tackle Dexter Lawrence made his presence felt with an interception,
several pressures and a terrific performance in a joint practice
against the Chicago Bears on Thursday.
In a scrimmage portion of the practice, Lawrence made the play of
the day by reading a screen and tipping the pass to himself.
On the following drive, a stop that closed it out, Lawrence had a
key pressure followed by a sack.
The interception was the highlight of this entire Bengals training
camp.
“I saw the ball get tipped,” linebacker Barrett Carter said. “As a
defense, we need to get those. I’m thinking, ‘Who’s the closest to
it?’ And then I see this large man under the ball. I was thinking,
‘Please, Dex, just catch it.’ I didn’t know if he had the ball
skills or not. He did. I’m glad he’s on my team.”
The Bengals defense won the day. There was one more “scrimmage”
session, and Myles Murphy denied the Bears’ two-minute drive with
consecutive sacks. One of the sacks looked as if it could have been
a safety.
“He’s an all-pro guy. He’s one of the best if not the best defensive
tackle with (Chiefs DL) Chris Jones and all of them up there. He’s a
force to be reckoned with," Bears quarterback Caleb Williams said.
“They were a great test for us. They invested pretty heavily in the
defense from last year and it showed up today. Then being able to
cause some negative plays and things like that.”
The Bengals defense started slow but did a great job of closing out
the practice.
“We were talking on the sideline before that period,” Murphy said.
“We’ve got to end it out regardless of what the offense does. We’ve
got to show them what we’re about.”
It wasn’t all perfect, and every level of the defense was given
something to work on. The defense took a bit to get going and
struggled more in the red zone. But on the whole, the defense won
more than the Bears offense. The Bengals pass rush was the star of
the day.
“The D-Line is a DB’s best friend,” cornerback DJ Turner said. “They
were getting back there.”
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Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson, left, and Cincinnati Bengals
head coach Zac Taylor, right, talk during a joint NFL football
practice Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn
Kaster)
The Bengals won both scrimmage sessions, closing
out one of them with a field goal from Evan McPherson. After
struggling to contain the pass rush all camp, the Bengals’ offensive
line got to face a different opponent and took a step forward
against the Bears.
“It was a great day,” center Ted Karras said. “We had a few things
that we wanted to try. A couple of play actions could have been
better in the base downs period. Other than that, it was smooth
sailing. We got after it. Good runs. Good pockets. And we won both
situations in the end.”
Wide receiver Tee Higgins had a productive day for the offense, and
the run game continued to show promise.
The offense wasn’t firing on all cylinders, and the unit hasn’t had
a consistent overall camp.
“We’re still figuring it out,” quarterback Joe Burrow said. “I think
No. 1, we have to be more consistent. We’ve shown flashes, but not
terribly consistent, and so we have to be better at that, for sure.
And I definitely play a role in that. We have some things to fix,
but we got three weeks until the first game, so we still got some
time.”
The Bengals starters aren’t expected to play in the second preseason
game on Saturday against the Bears.
There was one minor scuffle during the joint practice after
Chicago’s Dayo Odeyingbo made contact with Burrow, which didn’t make
wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase happy.
“I don’t care what we do, We just better protect Joe,” Chase said.
The Bengals’ first-team units got the overwhelming majority of the
action on Thursday, so the preseason game will give the second,
third and fourth-string units an opportunity.
The Bengals still have intriguing position depth battles at
offensive line and cornerback. They could get more answers at those
positions in the game on Saturday.
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