DaytonDailyNews.com

DETROIT — The Cincinnati Bengals were good, bad and ugly in their preseason opener, which translated into a sloppy, stunning 27-26 loss to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Thursday night.

Shayne Graham hit four field goals, but the one he wanted most — a 48-yarder as time expired — missed wide left.

The Bengals figured they had the game won when backup defensive tackle Matt Toeaina rumbled 81 yards with an interception at 10:16 of the fourth quarter as linebacker Matt Muncy delivered the final block on Lions quarterback Dan Orlovsky.

They figured wrong because the Lions scored 17 unanswered points down the stretch. Orlovsky threw touchdown passes of five yards to Ron Bellamy at 6:53 and seven yards to Kevin Kasper at 1:55, with Kenny Byrd's 25-yard field goal sandwiched in between.

After Byrd's field goal, the Lions recovered an onside kick to set up the winning TD.

The Bengals' No. 1 offense played the first quarter, working two series that yielded 121 yards on 18 plays and two field goals.

Quarterback Carson Palmer completed 7 of 10 passes for 93 yards and a 99.2 passer rating, but came away disappointed because his unit got shut out of the end zone.

Graham field goals from 23, 48 and 47 yards gave the Bengals a 9-0 lead.

Then the defense made the Lions' backup duo of quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan and wideout Shaun McDonald look like superstars as they hooked up for an 83-yard TD. There wasn't a defender within 15 yards of McDonald when he caught the ball at the Bengals' 35 and sprinted into the end zone.

Bengals safety Marvin White got faked out on the play and missed his assignment, but rebounded with an interception that set up Doug Johnson's nine-yard TD pass to Chris Henry for a 16-7 Bengals lead at 1:08 of the second quarter.

"We've got to keep working hard in the red zone on both sides of the ball," head coach Marvin Lewis said. "We hold them out (of the end zone) at the end of the half. But we didn't get touchdowns in the first quarter when we had a chance. It's crucial we perform well in this area."

Cincinnati's defense got lit up eight times by Lions' pass plays of 20-plus yards.

The Bengals suffered two injuries. Tailback Kenny Irons exited in the second quarter with left knee and left ankle injuries, and defensive end Johnathan Fanene went down with muscle cramps in the second half.

The loss was marred by four false-start penalties by the Bengals, an area that plagued them in 2006.

"I'm most disappointed with the pre-snap penalties we had on offense," Lewis said.

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