The most painful thing about the Cincinnati Bengals‘ season so far isn’t Joe Burrow’s tortured calf muscle. It’s … everything.
Make no mistake, the restriction being suffered by star quarterback Burrow is at the root of much of what’s falling apart for the Bengals, who slipped deeper into the mire on Sunday with a 27-3 walloping at the hands of the Tennessee Titans.
But there’s more to it than that, as a new reality becomes clear for a team that was happy to agree with the widespread public belief that it was inching closer and closer to a Super Bowl title.
Never mind a run through the playoffs; this is a group that will need a serious turnaround before it can even start thinking about still playing in deep winter, sitting as it currently does at the foot of the AFC North.
“Not if we keep playing the way we are,” Burrow said, when asked about the Bengals’ postseason prospects. “We know we have the capability of being a playoff team, but that’s so far into the future.”
Neither Burrow nor his right lower leg should shoulder the entirety of the blame, but it has still been strikingly remarkable to see how limited his effectiveness has been, especially when compared to how things have gone since the start of his NFL career.
Through four games, he is averaging just 4.8 yards per attempt and is hitting on just 28.9 percent of throws 10 yards or further downfield. Cincinnati’s cumulative 49 points through four games is the franchise’s lowest total since 2002.
On Sunday, Burrow threw for 20-of-30 for 165 yards, beginning the game with a drive that led to a particularly cautious field goal attempt near the goal line, then produced just 84 total yards from the next seven drives.
Next week brings a chance to start a revival, on the road against the Arizona Cardinals, but looming large on the horizon is a late-October/early-November stretch that will see clashes with the San Francisco 49ers, the Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens in the space of four weeks. Things need to get better, and quickly.
“I would say whenever you’re 1-3, you’re going to be frustrated,” Burrow said. “You’re going to be angry. You’re going to be wanting to win games. And we haven’t been. We weren’t close to winning the game. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
When Burrow went down hurt during training camp on Jul. 27, there wasn’t anything in the way of a permanent sense of gloom. It seemed back then that the Bengals’ momentum, carried forward from their narrow defeat in the AFC Championship and a surging finish to last season, was unstoppable. Surely, Burrow would come striding back with a vengeance, sign a record contract and all would be well.
Only one of those things has happened.
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The repercussions are still being felt, and it is clear that a whole different vibe was set in motion that day. The problems are manifold, and they are compounding. No part of the Cincinnati overall game has much in common with the end of last season.
The highly-touted receiving unit is disjointed, with Tee Higgins now injured, Tyler Boyd strugglingto find his peak form and Ja’Marr Chase severely displeased, offering a postgame soundbite that left some unclarity as to what, or who, he was mad at. “I’m open,” Chase said, “I’m always (f***ing) open.”
As for the defense, the vaunted unit that was supposed to be resilient enough to keep them in the mix by stifling and restricting and at the very least slowing down the opposition? That hasn’t shown up either.
“Nothing was good enough,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “This is unacceptable.” Special-teams mistakes have crept in, too, and an overwhelming lack of confidence appears to have taken over.
The Bengals get a little more leeway than other teams, because of recent history. Last season, don’t forget, began 4-4 before a relentless run that teased a return to the Super Bowl. The previous year, when Cincinnati did reach the biggest game of all, began 5-4.
But this feels worse.
The problems here don’t have the look or feel of teething troubles, and nor do they look confined to the simple need to get Burrow back to full health.
Somewhere along the way, the dynamism, belief and ruthlessness that defined the Bengals last season has become lost.
Unless it is found again, and quickly, the 2023 Bengals story is going to go down as an unexpected one — for all the wrong reasons.
