More often than not in the last 20 years or so, when the Bengals and Broncos meet in the national window, fireworks are open for business, and center Ted Karras’ Cincinnati offensive line hopes to set some off next Monday night (8:15-Cincinnati’s Channel 9) at Mile High.

The Broncos are 1-2 and coming off a game that got away against the Chargers, while Karras is reminding everyone the Bengals are 2-1 after the Vikings had their way in Minnesota Sunday.

“We can shell up if you want, but that’s not who we are or what we’re going to do,” said Karras on this Monday of a team he says won’t go into a shell.

“I’m not thinking about the national stage. We have a chance to be 3-1. We were sitting here at 0-3 last year. It feels worse right now after that loss. But we’re 2-1. We have to have that in perspective. That (last) game counts as one. So let’s not make it count as two.”

A checklist of the memorable Bengals-Broncos national TV games in this century:

2004: At Paycor Stadium, Bengals cornerback Deltha O’Neal, traded by the Broncos, races past Denver head coach Mike Shanahan on a punt return touchdown, and wide receiver Chad Johnson beats Broncos future Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Champ Bailey on a 50-yard touchdown bomb in the Bengals’ 23-10 win.

2014: With snow flurries swirling at Paycor and the Bengals protecting a 30-28 lead, cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick steps in front of a pass from another future Broncos Hall-of-Famer, Peyton Manning, and goes 30 yards for a pick-six with 2:41 left to put the Bengals in the playoffs.

2015: Needing a win for a playoff bye and playing without injured quarterback Andy Dalton, backup AJ McCarron slices the frozen and deafening Mile High mob with a razor-sharp 109.7 passer rating to give the Bengals a 14-3 halftime lead in what is now known as the Brock Osweiler game. Osweiler, playing for the injured Manning, leads a comeback that carries the day in overtime, 20-17, for the soon-to-be Super Bowl champs.

2024: In the next-to-last game of the season at Paycor, the Broncos come into the game needing a win to clinch a playoff spot, and the Bengals need a win to stay alive. In the fourth quarter, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow fires a touchdown for a go-ahead score and then sneaks for another go-ahead score before Denver rookie quarterback Bo Nix heaves a 25-yard touchdown pass to chuck it into overtime. That’s where Burrow and Tee Higgins walk it off with a touchdown flip of three yards.

Getting A Handle

The Bengals take ball security very seriously in these parts, so Sunday’s five fumbles and losing three of them were jarring to everyone. Particularly offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher, who had the numbers on the tip of his notes Monday morning.

“It’s not something that has been really in our DNA as ball carriers,” Pitcher said.

He told the team that before Sunday, they had played more than 800 snaps to accumulate their last five fumbles and more than 900 plays to lose three.

“And (Sunday), we did it in the span of 35 plays. So obviously, nothing I’ve really been a part of before, and we got to make sure we do the work to make sure it never happens again,” Pitcher said.

Head coach Zac Taylor emphasizes ball security during every phase of his program. He puts position coaches in charge of presenting on the topic during the season, usually wide receivers coach Troy Walters and running backs coach Justin Hill.

And, during this past spring, Taylor assigned assistant wide receivers coach Jordan Salkin to make a presentation to the team, and Salkin went in-depth for 20 minutes or so with stats and videos. He even approached various team employees for photos showing the proper technique to hold on as part of the presentation.

(A certain Bengals.com senior writer received rave reviews for proper use of his off-hand as he tucked the ball with both.)

“It’s the No. 1 determinative for winning or losing a game,” Salkin said.

Truer words never spoken. The Bengals are 3-39 in their history when they have at least five turnovers with the last win coming in 1976.

Pitcher is determined to nip it in the bud.

“On none of them did it feel like guys were being reckless or egregious. But on each and every one, there’s something a little bit,” Pitcher said. “If your primary focus was making sure that you ended the play with the football, there are things that each ball carrier could have done a little bit differently at the end of all those runs that would have assured that that happened.

“It’s our job to make sure that we’re doing those things in practice, that we’re making sure the scout team is punching at the football. Because I promise you, there’s a coach in Denver right now that’s putting that cutup together, and they’re going to show their guys, and that’s what happens. That’s the league. You are what you put on tape. So I don’t think that’s who we’ll be moving forward, but we can’t just sweep it under the rug.”

Run Game

Zac Taylor said they wouldn’t run away from the run-game struggles and that was the big topic Monday with the Bengals managing just 2.4 yards per carry.

Don’t look for Taylor and Pitcher to revamp it. But they’ll throw all they’ve got at it because, as Taylor said after the game, they still need to find their identity in the run game.

Taylor on the team concept of the run:

“Whenever you talk about protection and physicality in the run game, you immediately think of just the offensive line. That’s everybody involved, that’s the backs, that’s the tight ends, that’s receivers, that’s the quarterbacks on their fakes trying to pull an extra hat and soften people up. That’s play calling, marrying things together, so you can’t tee off on people and make one phase of the offense difficult. We all play a hand in that. There’s not one person or one position group you’re going to point to. We all got to own that and be better at it moving forward. ”

Pitcher on an offensive line built to protect the passer:

“That doesn’t mean that you can’t put together an effective rushing attack with the skillsets of the players we have. I firmly believe that. We have not done that to this point. There’s no getting around that. But we’re going to fight like hell to figure that part out. Because we need to.”

Karras on the need to be more physical:

“(The Vikings) were moving a lot, but we have to be more aggressive. Creating displacement. Knowing what to do and how to do it.”

Backer Rotation

Linebacker Logan Wilson took 70% of the snaps, his fewest in a game that mattered in three years, which was a blow-out win over Carolina back on Nov. 6, 2022. And he probably would have played more Sunday if the game was tighter.

But Taylor also likes the idea of giving exposure to draft picks Demetrius Knight Jr., the other starter, and Barrett Carter, who had a career-high 18 snaps in Minnesota after none the week before, when Wilson played all 71 against Jacksonville.

“That’s why we drafted (Carter),” Taylor said. “Tremendous leadership, poise, high-level intelligence. Great quickness. Ability to read and diagnose. You could use that description on a lot of linebackers in that room.

“For those young linebackers, there has never been a moment where it’s too big for those guys. They’re not going to be perfect and make mistakes and be a step slow at times, but they’ll work through it. I’ve been pleased with the progress of both those rookies.”

Wilson is coming off a knee injury that took out last year’s final month for him, but he did play 135 snaps in the first two games.

“I don’t ever think it’s a bad thing for a guy to take a break for a snap or two,” Taylor said. “The way that game was flowing, it was a great opportunity to get other guys in there and give them a chance.

“We still held out hope coming into the second half to put pressure on them to at least score some points and hold them. That didn’t really happen. It’s an opportunity to get some other guys a chance to play.”

Slants and Screens

Burrow rolled into Paycor on a scooter Monday for the team meeting, three days after surgery on his turf toe.

“It’s always great to see Joe,” Karras said. “The last two weeks have been as close as you can get to a nightmare. The one thing we can do is get out there Wednesday and get to work. …

The young Bengals offensive linemen are getting loved up. Fifth-rounder Jalen Rivers played the first 23 scrimmage snaps of his NFL career in place of right guard Dalton Risner (calf) and finished the game with starting left guard Dylan Fairchild, the third-rounder.

“Both guys,” Karras said, “are going to be humungous parts of this organization for a long time.”

And last year’s first-rounder, Amarius Mims came out of Sunday’s game as the offense highest-graded player, via Pro Football Focus.

“I thought Amarius’ play was significantly improved yesterday, compared to the week prior,” Pitcher said. “Amarius is just so gifted, and he can be as good as he wants to be. He’s still such a young player, and he’s still just figuring out this league and how good he can be in this league. There were some plays yesterday where’s he got to be better.

“But in totality, as bad as yesterday was for us as a football team, I think it can be viewed as a positive step forward in his progression as long as the mistakes that happened yesterday, we take care of and don’t make them again next week.” …