The Bengals are still struggling, but are coming off an ugly win over an even sloppier Giants team

The Cincinnati Bengals don't charge style points. None were given on Sunday evening.

The jokes about the Bengals never showing up in September aren't as funny anymore because it's mid-October and they still seem to be stuck in the mud. At least they got an ugly victory. The defense made enough plays to support an offense that had surprisingly little going, and they managed 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 their best game of the season and pulled out a win. Provided the offense plays much better than it did Sunday night, perhaps this is a sign that the Bengals can still play a role in the AFC playoffs. They just haven't looked like this team often this season.

The Bengals had a great touchdown run from Joe Burrow on Sunday night and not much else. However, the Giants didn't get much at all. The Bengals, who were 1-4 entering Week 6, are desperate for wins and Sunday night's victory brings them back to 2-4 on the season. But anyone who's been watching knows that the Bengals don't appear to be any closer to their early-season doldrums.

Slow start for both teams

There have been some exciting primetime games this NFL season. Sunday evening was not one of them.

Both teams struggled to implement anything. Daniel Jones threw a terrible interception when under pressure and missed several other throws. The Bengals' offense wasn't much better, but at least Cincinnati found an unexpected high point. Burrow, who never had a run of more than 23 yards in his first 57 NFL games, started on a third-and-18 and just kept running because there were no Giants defenders around him. He scored an impressive 47-yard touchdown. It was a nice play for Burrow, but also a warning sign that the Giants were allowing Burrow to break up such a run.

One sequence pretty much summed up the game. The Giants gained 8 yards on a third-and-10 but received an illegal formation penalty. The Bengals probably made a mistake denying the penalty because the Giants attempted the penalty on fourth-and-2 instead of third-and-15. But the Giants were so poor on offense that they couldn't convert because Jones ' Pass was interrupted and incomplete.

Finally, the Giants had a breakthrough. The Bengals fumbled on the failed fourth down and the Giants scored on several plays, including a defensive pass interference down to the 1-yard line. Tyrone Tracy Jr. scored a run and the game ended in a tie.

The Giants had been playing pretty poorly up to that point. Nevertheless, the score remained tied until well into the third quarter.

The Bengals take back the lead

It looked like the Bengals had taken the lead on a Chase Brown touchdown run, but it was called back due to a holding penalty. Naturally. The Bengals then took the lead 10-7 with a field goal. The Giants tried to answer but missed a field goal. Naturally.

Both teams needed a win. The Giants went 2-3 and the Bengals went 1-4. And it was within reach, but neither team seemed too excited to grab it.

The Giants had another attempt to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. They entered Bengal territory. But the Giants didn't trust the special teams to make a 54-yard field goal after the previous miss, so they tried it on fourth-and-3. As was the case on fourth down in the third quarter, Jones' pass was deflected and incomplete.

The Bengals needed a big play to keep the Giants at bay, and Burrow made it. On third-and-12, he rolled left and hit Andrei Iosivas for 29 yards. Another moment after was appropriate considering how each team played. Brown broke off a nice run on first down but failed. The Giants had a chance to recover and have another chance at a win. But the ball splashed through them and went out of bounds. You can't keep giving an opponent so many opportunities, and finally Brown broke off a 30-yard touchdown run with 1:52 left to end any drama. The Giants then got in position for a field goal and hoped 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 slop to come out the other side with a win. Maybe someday soon they'll look more like the Super Bowl contender we've been expecting this season. It hasn't happened yet.