Bengals’ Slow Start History Is Removing Accountability
Cara Owsley / Imagn Images
Cincinnati Bengals fans may or may not be familiar with British rock duo Royal Blood, but after the team’s loss to the New England Patriots, the song “Figure It Out” might be poised to gain some traction in the Queen City.
Despite having only one player – running back Rahmondre Stevenson – who might be on most fantasy football rosters nationwide, the Patriots controlled the Bengals’ season opener (played at Paycor Stadium, nonetheless) from the very start. Forcing quick three-and-outs on the Bengals’ first three series, the Patriots dominated the time of possession (34:03 vs. 25:57) and line of scrimmage (three sacks to Cincinnati’s one).
The Bengals would eventually get it together in the middle of the third quarter, with free agent acquisition Zach Moss running in for the team’s lone touchdown. But by the fourth quarter, Bengals fans saw the unfortunate writing on the wall, their final possession ending with rookie Ryan Rehkow – who set a new team record with an 80-yarder earlier in the game – punting yet again.
Even more surprising than the result of the game was the fact that many Bengals fans weren’t surprised by it.
As noted by longtime Bengals’ beat writer Jay Morrison, the Bengals are 1-10 in Weeks 1 and 2 in the Zac Taylor era, and 0-5 in the last five despite being favored to win all of them. The team, of course, has turned most of those seasons around, reaching the Super Bowl in 2021 and the AFC Championship game in 2022. But for many fans, the Bengals’ early season struggles have left them channeling their inner Nancy Kerrigan with the same question: Why?
One potential reason? Not playing the team’s starters in the preseason. Now look, no one wants to see a player, let alone one as key to a team’s plans as its top wideout, defensive end, cornerback, or quarterback, go down with an injury in a game that doesn’t count. However, as Aaron Rodgers’ Achilles or Jordan Love’s MCL can both tell you, you can get hurt at any time, be it the fourth play of the season or the last six seconds of your first game.
The Bengals offense, missing Joe Mixon for the first time in eons, looked as out of sync as Justin Timberlake did when he “ruined the tour.” The offensive line, missing first-round selection Amarius Mims, was not stout. They failed to establish the run game up the middle and succeeded at forcing quarterback Joe Burrow to scramble more than anticipated.
Of course, this isn’t accounting for the drama in the Bengals’ wide receiver room this offseason. Ja’Marr Chase led the Bengals in receiving yards… but he also failed to get off the field during one of Rehkow’s punts. Tee Higgins, who spent the offseason disgruntled, was absent with a bad hamstring, leaving Andrei Iosivas, Charlie Jones (who also fumbled a punt), and Trenton Irwin as Burrow’s main pass catchers.
Could the star wideout’s potential availability have affected game planning? How much of the team’s offseason mess was present in Sunday’s blame? Could first-year offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher still be getting his whatever is the football equivalent of sea legs?
The truth is, these are all valid and plausible reasons. But none of them matter when put into the context of Zac Taylor’s history of struggling to open the season. The fan base’s willingness to excuse these subpar performances completely lets Zach Taylor and his staff off the hook from anything resembling appropriate accountability.
Taylor is certainly an incredible culture guy, and it’s hard to argue with the team’s deep playoff runs, but something isn’t right here. It’s time to stop passing it off as Same Old Bengals. It’s time to start asking why are they the same old Bengals.
Once is an instance, two is a pattern, three is a trend. What do you call it when it’s five? I don’t even know.
Most fans will have faith that Taylor and company will figure it out before it’s too late, so as long as most of their starters stay healthy. Based on their 2021 and 2022 seasons, they’re likely not wrong. But will there finally be some reckoning for Taylor if they don’t? And if it’s not this season, what will it take? The Bengals are all-in for 2024 and this should have been — and still needs to be — a season where they battle for home-field advantage and an easier path to the franchise’s first Super Bowl win. Dropping a game to the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick Patriots would have been excusable. But the Jacoby Brissett-Jarrod Mayo version? Come on.
The time for accepting these slow starts should be over. There needs to be accountability, and there needs to be pressure on Taylor and his staff. The sooner fans and the organization start acknowledging that, the better.
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