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Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor discusses QB Jake Browning
Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor discusses quarterback Jake Browning following the team’s loss to the Detroit Lions on Oct. 5
- The Bengals got comfortable knowing that star quarterback Joe Burrow could gloss over problems, but now they’re paying the price.
- A long line of bad personnel moves has caught up to the Bengals’ roster, and it’s showing on the field.
The Cincinnati Bengals have reverted to 1990s-level embarrassment.
Three consecutive blowout losses, the latest a 37-24 stinker on their home field against the tough-as-nails Detroit Lions on Sunday. The Bengals have no plan on offense and lack talent and toughness on defense. They’ve been outscored by an average of 25 points the last three weeks.
Who’s going to be held accountable for this?
We already know the answer to that. No one. It’s not how Bengals ownership operates. Don’t expect anyone to get fired. Don’t expect front office executives to be made available to the media to answer for this mess or put out a statement telling fans this is unacceptable.
And certainly don’t expect some major trade to try to try to salvage this season.
Joe Burrow got hurt. That gives everyone from head coach Zac Taylor, the assistant coaches and player personnel director Duke Tobin a pass. That’s almost certainly how Bengals ownership sees things.
Accept it, Bengals fans. Or don’t. Ownership doesn’t care. Planning to wear a paper bag over your head at the next home game? Go for it. Ownership sees it as a ticket sold. Same ownership that expected fans to accept all those three-win seasons in the 1990s, by the way.
Fans want Taylor fired. But right now, that wouldn’t solve anything. It’d be another scapegoat move, just like the firing of defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo after last season.
Fans want quarterback Jake Browning benched. OK, so who are the Bengals going to turn to? They aren’t willing to spend money to make a deal. That makes it tough to find anyone better than Browning, who threw three gifts to the Lions’ nasty defense.
Browning has eight interceptions in less than four full games, ranking him second in the NFL. He said his “bad decision making” has been “completely screwing over the team.” Poor guy. He really flogged himself in his postgame presser. He’s a defeated man.
The Bengals’ problems run much, much deeper than Taylor and Browning.
Credit to Taylor for calling himself out after the latest disaster. Taylor is an offensive coach. The Bengals put all their money into the offense. They’ve scored a total of nine points in the first half of the last three games.
“Put this on me,” Taylor said. “I got to do a better job.”
Appreciate that, Coach. We’ll never hear owner Mike Brown hold himself accountable like that. Nor would we hear Tobin publicly call himself out. Hell, we won’t hear anything at all from the Bengals’ front office executives, who like to lurk in the shadows of Paycor Stadium and make their head coach answer for things he has no control over.
Like all those terrible draft-day decisions the Bengals have made on the offensive line and defense in recent years.
Like the decision not to re-sign star safety Jessie Bates after the run to the AFC Championship game in the 2022 season.
Like the annual decisions to pass on competing for frontline free agents.
Like the franchise’s long-held philosophy of not making it a top priority to build around and constantly improve in the trenches.
Folks, what you’re seeing is the fallout of a franchise that got complacent. Everyone from Brown to Tobin to Taylor got way too comfortable relying on Burrow to mask the front office’s incompetence and Taylor’s lack of creativity on offense. Let Burrow do all the heavy lifting. Works pretty well – until he gets hurt.
Can anyone point to a move Tobin has made since the 2021 Super Bowl run that has drastically improved the Bengals?
Does anyone have examples of how the offense has evolved in Taylor’s seven seasons?
The Bengals continue to rank last in the NFL in rushing. They’ve refused to address the running game, despite Burrow’s injury history. It should’ve been a focal point to improve even when Burrow was healthy. Most of the NFL’s top offenses are balanced.
No wonder the Bengals have been completely lost without Burrow, who has been out since the second game of the season with turf toe. Get ready for the remaining 12 games to look a lot like the last three. This isn’t fixable during the season.
Burrow’s injury should not be an excuse for this mess. The San Francisco 49ers lost starting quarterback Brock Purdy to a toe injury in Week 1, and they’re 4-1. The Minnesota Vikings are 2-1 with backup quarterback Carson Wentz – and are a field goal from being undefeated with the journeyman as a starter.
Those teams are well coached, don’t put the weight of their franchise on the quarterback and have talent across the board. Those teams still have playoff aspirations.
Meanwhile in Cincinnati, the coach and players are praising the team for not quitting. That’s what high school coaches and players say.
Let’s see if they’re still saying that in a month. Because things are going to get worse.
Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com
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