Thursday may have been merely a joint practice as a prelude to Saturday's Bengals-Bears preseason game (7 p.m. - Cincinnati’s FOX 19), but Bengas linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. felt a strong regular-season vibe.

"Dagger in the heart," Knight said of the Bears' last-minute comeback win here back in November. "There was a little attitude about it where we remember what happened last time, and we're going to get that taste out of our mouths today."

This time across the street from Paycor Stadium at the Kettering Health Practice Fields, the Bengals finished off the Bears in the end-of-game situations as enthused head coach Zac Taylor fist-pumped them along. First, in the four-minute drill trying to hold on to a lead, and then in a two-minute drill looking to end on a kick or score.

Welcome to the Dexter Lawrence II show. First, he tipped quarterback Caleb Williams' screen pass and then caught it while the Bengals got a long Evan McPherson field goal to salt that drill away.

Then, when the Bengals offense turned the ball back over to the Bears on a three-and-out, the defensive line, with Lawrence pushing back double teams, swarmed Williams on back-to-back sacks by edge Myles Murphy. They then forced an underthrown ball to tight end Colston Loveland, and nickel cornerback Jalen Davis caught the tip for a pick to end the day's work.

As all Cincy schoolkids know, Williams-Loveland was the killer connection last year, but not Thursday against the Bengals re-tooled defense.

Two interceptions to finish.

"They look like how they've looked all training camp," said Burrow, who saw the defense only during the situational shutdowns. "I'm excited to go and watch that tape. We'll watch that. They look great in the small part that I saw."

The biggest offseason acquisition in the Bengals' most expensive offseason in their history that was ticketed mainly for the defense, Lawrence dominated Thursday.

"It validates my insecurities," said center and captain Ted Karras, who faces him every day.

Slants and Screens

His linemates weren't far behind. Williams likes to run out of the pocket, but Murphy was in closer pursuit much of the day than Williams probably wanted, and rookie edge Cashius Howell was nasty against the run as were tackle Jonathan Allen and edge Boye Mafe …

That's the last you'll see of Burrow, Lawrence and the rest of the ones until the Sept. 13 opener at Paycor against the Buccaneers.

Burrow said there was good and bad Thursday, but says he feels comfortable with where he and the offense are on Aug. 19.

"We're still figuring it out. I think No. 1, we have to be more consistent. We've shown flashes, but not terribly consistent," Burrow said, "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've got three weeks until the first game, so we still got some time.

"I just think you don't have enough snaps until all the snaps have played out. We could go and play a game tomorrow. But why would we go play a game tomorrow when we could go and have an extra 300 reps under our belt before we go and play the game? And I'll be that much better from those reps and three weeks better than I am right now." …

Urgency. Burrow mentioned it yet again Thursday.

He's playing 2026 like it's now or never.

"I'm trying to put it out into the world. I'm trying to manifest it. I'm trying to show our guys the urgency that I have, and I want us to have as an organization to go and make it happen," Burrow said. "I'm tired of saying next year, next year, next year. This is it. Your life is too short to keep pushing things down the road." …

According to Voice of the Bengals turned statistician-for-the-day Dan Hoard, Burrow was 16 of 25 with short red-zone touchdown passes to wide receiver Tee Higgins and tight end Mike Gesicki, He had a pick when a ball bounced off Gesicki's fingertips into the hands of rookie safety Dillon Thieneman, a Bears' first-round pick …

After that play, Burrow found himself in his first practice scuffle since college when he had words with linebacker Dayo Odeyingbo.

"Bleep happens," said Burrow with a shrug, but he did admit it wasn't a bad feeling. "Fun to go at it a little bit." …

Karras liked how they responded ("We all went over there … we just pushed everybody back. Nothing big happened") and Burrow appreciated how wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase said,  "You have to protect Joe."

"I think the urgency is really high this year. I think not just me, but everybody wants to protect each other and be intense and go and win a lot of football games.," Burrow said.  So you know it's emotional out there." …

Karras thinks the first-teamers are ready after what he calls head coach Zac Taylor's most physical camp in Karras' five years with the club.

"I think we have the team that can handle that," Karras said. "We're doing all the right things. We still have a lot of work to do." …

Burrow figures he's got 300 more practice reps until another Paycor showdown with Baker Mayfield, the Bucs' quarterback.

"I'm a rep guy," said Burrow, who says he feels ahead of himself. "I would say, body-wise, for sure. I feel really good. I'm staying on my maintenance programs, my strength and conditioning." …

According to Hoard, Higgins had a nice day with the touchdown and four other catches, among them some  15- and 20-yarders …

And Chase was active with six catches and two in one red-zone drill that brought the Bengals from the Bears 20 to inside the 5 …

Zac Taylor chatted with his brother Press Taylor, the Bears offensive coordinator, before practice and they were joined by their father Sherwood Taylor.

Dad sat in on Zac's pre-practice news conference where Zac said: "to do it in a practice setting and not have the December games when we're typically facing him is fun for all of us. For Press and me, it's more of the same. We've done this a million times. But I think for our family, it's a lot of fun to get out here and enjoy it."

How many family members are in town?

Everybody and so many kids that Taylor said he stepped out in his backyard Wednesday night …

Bears head coach Ben Johnson worked for Zac when Taylor was the quarterbacks coach in Miami. They invited to practice one of the Dolphins' long-time quarterbacks, Matt Moore …