NFL Week 5 storylines: Bengals suddenly have bite

In the blink of an eye, the first month of the NFL season has come and gone. And we are no closer to figuring it all out than when it all started.

Other than this has been one of the most entertaining and exciting starts to an NFL season in a while.

As we reach Week 5, here are some storylines to follow:

Bengals have bite

Joe Burrow and the Bengals got off to a slow start against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Sept. 30 game on Thursday night before turning it on and dominating the second half.

Cincinnati outscored the Jags 24-7 over the final two quarters, which is what good teams should do against the bad ones. The mind trick being, it might actually be time to reference the Bengals among the former rather than the latter.

Burrow is one of the best young quarterbacks in the game, and he has an exciting core of playmakers. The defense, as it showed in the second half of the 24-21 win over Jacksonville, also is growing up.

The Bengals face a litmus test of sorts Sunday against the Packers, the best team Cincinnati has faced.

The Urban problem

Urban Meyer was supposed to bring discipline, culture and accountability to Jacksonville upon being talked out of retirement to coach the Jaguars. The last thing anyone expected was for Meyer to put all of those things to the test.

But his embarrassing actions last week — beginning with the nearly unprecedented decision to stay back in a visiting city for personal reasons while the team he leads flies home after a game to the less than flattering video of him that soon surfaced on social media — puts everything Meyer supposedly stands for under a microscope.

The unintended victims of his poor decisions are his players, who must now decide whether they are buying into everything Meyer is trying to sell.

Chargers for real?

The Chargers’ handling of a much improved Raiders team eight days after beating the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium is compelling proof they have arrived as a real player in the AFC, if not the division the Chiefs have owned for years.

Nevertheless, it is understandable to still wonder about the Chargers, if for no other reason than their frustrating habit of eventually shooting themselves in the foot.

Hosting the Cleveland Browns on Sunday offers an opportunity to further present their case as a legitimate contender. It won’t be an easy task.

The Browns are averaging a league-leading 177 rushing yards, while the Chargers allow opponents the fourth-most rushing yards at 135.

Chiefs’ defense MIA

Kansas City bounced back from its home loss to the Chargers with a win over the Eagles.

But it came with a major qualifier. A Philadelphia team that scored 11 and 21 points in its losses to the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys over the two previous weeks, dropped 30 points on the beleaguered Chiefs defense.

A win is a win, and the 42 points the Chiefs scored shows just how powerful the Kansas City offense continues to be. The problem is those 42 points seem to have become a necessity rather than a luxury.

And with a legitimate offense coming to town Sunday in the Buffalo Bills, it could get really, really ugly for the Chiefs.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter