The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t asking for style points. None were given on Sunday evening.

The jokes about the Bengals never showing up in September aren’t so funny anymore because it’s mid-October and they still seem stuck in the mud. At least they got an ugly victory. The defense made enough plays to support an offense that was surprisingly underpowered, and they earned a 17-7 victory over the New York Giants.

If you want to be optimistic, it was a good sign for the Bengals that their struggling defense played by far its best game of the season and led to a win. Assuming the offense plays much better than it did Sunday night, perhaps that’s a sign the Bengals can still be a factor in the AFC playoff picture. They haven’t looked like that team much this season.

The Bengals got a big touchdown run from Joe Burrow on Sunday night and not much else. However, the Giants didn’t get much. The Bengals, who were 1-4 in Week 6, are desperate for wins and Sunday night’s win drops them to 2-4 on the season. But anyone who’s been watching knows the Bengals appear no closer to coming out of their early-season slump.

A slow start for both teams

There have been some exciting games in prime time this NFL season. Sunday night was not one of them.

Both teams struggled to execute. Daniel Jones threw a terrible interception when pressured, and missed several other throws. The Bengals’ offense wasn’t much better, but Cincinnati found at least one unexpected highlight. Burrow, who had never run longer than 23 yards in his first 57 NFL games, took off on a third-and-18 and kept running because there were no Giants defenders around him. He scored on a stunning 47-yard touchdown. It was a nice play for Burrow, but also a red flag because the Giants let Burrow break a point.

One sequence summed up the game quite well. The Giants gained 8 yards on a third-and-10, but were assessed an illegal formation penalty. The Bengals likely made a mistake in calling the penalty because the Giants went for it on fourth-and-2 instead of third-and-15. But the Giants were so poor on offense that they couldn’t convert, as Jones’ pass was incomplete and incomplete.

Eventually the Giants broke through. The Bengals then fumbled but failed on fourth down, and the Giants hit a few plays, including a defensive pass interference down to the 1-yard line. Tyrone Tracy Jr. scored after a point and the game was tied.

The Giants had played pretty poorly up to that point. Yet they remained connected deep into the third quarter.

Bengal takes back the lead

The Bengals appeared to have taken a lead on Chase Brown’s touchdown run, but it was called back due to a holding penalty. Naturally. The Bengals then took a 10-7 lead on a field goal. The Giants tried to answer back, but missed a field goal. Naturally.

Both teams needed a win. The Giants came into the game 2-3 and the Bengals were 1-4. And it was there for the taking, but neither team seemed too excited to grab it.

The Giants had another shot late in the fourth quarter to tie the score again. They entered the territory of Bengal. But the Giants didn’t trust the special teams to attempt a field goal from about 54 yards after the previous miss, so they went for it on fourth-and-3. Jones’ pass was deflected and incomplete, just like on fourth down in the third quarter.

The Bengals needed one big play to put the Giants aside, and Burrow got it. On third-and-12, rolling to his left, he hit Andrei Iosivas for 29 yards. Another moment after that was fitting, given the way each team played. Brown broke off a nice run on the first down, but fumbled. The Giants had a chance to recover and have one more shot at a win. But the ball squirted through and went out of bounds. You can’t keep giving an opponent so many chances, and eventually Brown broke off a 30-yard touchdown run with 1:58 left to end any drama. The Giants then got into position for a field goal, hoping to recover an onside kick, but again they missed the field goal wide left.

It was sloppy on both sides. At least the Bengals waded through the doldrums to come out the other side with a win. Maybe they’ll soon look more like the Super Bowl contender we expected this season. It hasn’t happened yet.