CINCINNATI — Hope is not a strategy and right now, the Bengals are acting like a franchise that hopes the immediate future is not remotely close to what they’ve put on game film the last three weeks.
Through two quarters and 43 seconds Sunday against the Lions, Jake Browning put forth a performance that would have had him benched by most NFL teams. He was 14-of-24 for 86 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions and a quarterback rating of 26. Most teams would have at least sat him and brought in a backup. But because the Bengals – and presumably Zac Taylor – don’t see Brett Rypien as a viable backup, the only option was to leave Browning in the game and pray that things would get better.
Did he leave Browning in 37-24 loss to the Lions because he knows there’s likely no moves forthcoming from the front office and he’s going to need him going forward?
“I believe in him,” Taylor told me. “I saw the turnovers that were happening. We’ve got to be better. We can’t excuse him. What we saw with those three straight touchdown drives, he gave us our best chance there.”
“I think something like this hurts, and it should, because I care and I want to play better,” Browning said. “I work really hard at this, not that anyone should really care that I work hard or not as this is a performance-based league, but yeah, it hurts and it should. You know, I feel a great responsibility to get back on track. I think for me, anytime I’m going through something difficult, it’s just double down on work ethic and seeing it all the way through. Whether it gets better or not — that’s to be determined, and that’s the unknown. But it will not be because of lack of effort and lack of dedication to trying to get better and put our team in better situations to win.”
The problem isn’t Browning, it’s that the Bengals give off the vibe that they can make do with Browning going forward because it can’t get worse, can it? Again, hope is not a strategy. Browning has earned a reputation as one of the most respected players in the Bengals locker room because of his work ethic and knowledge. Everyone in that room roots for him. But this isn’t high school, and Browning realizes that.
“I think it’s just getting too aggressive and not taking what they give me,” he added. “I think some of that is just, you get frustrated. You’re not scoring points and then you press, and then you put three picks. That’s why we lost the game.”
The problem here isn’t Browning. It’s the head coach’s play-calling and the lack of options available to the head coach to make a change.
Eventually, after the Bengals were essentially out of the game at 28-3, it did improve as he threw three fourth quarter touchdown passes and put window dressing on another non-competitive outing by the Joe Burrow-less Bengals.
Most teams would be burning the phone lines and hurrying to bring in at least some viable competition for Browning. And no doubt they have made those calls. The Bengals were rebuffed in their probing of the 49ers for Mac Jones, who is filling in for the injured Brock Purdy. Then there’s Russell Wilson/Jameis Winston with the Giants.
But maybe Zac Taylor is right. Maybe the head coach/play caller IS the problem. Maybe, just maybe, they’ve asked Jake Browning to just slide in and run the “Burrow” offense and that is too big of an ask.
Through three quarters Sunday, the offense had scored 16 points while the opposition hung 104 in the last three games. The Bengals, thanks to the play-calling of the offense and the lack of playmaking ability from its quarterback had put its defense, already filled with inexperience and depth issues across the board, in an impossible situation.
“We’ve hung our defense out to dry a couple times in the first half three games in a row. To hold them to 14 points at halftime, seven of them coming off a turnover and short field and then starting the second half with another turnover and giving them a short field and points — that’s my job. I call the plays on offense, I put this thing together. I’ve got to be better for this football team. It just hasn’t been good enough. I put that on myself, and we’ve got to get that fixed. I’m confident that we’re going to get it fixed. It’s disappointing and frustrating that again that we’ve scored three points three weeks in a row in the first half. You’re not going to win against these teams we’ve been playing against when you do that. So, that’s my responsibility to get that fixed and find a way to score some more points and getting that done.”
As for Browning? He wasn’t in a mood to be accepting of Taylor’s willingness to take the blame.
“No, that’s on me. You know, I appreciate him saying that, but I need to play better,” Browning said. “There’s literally no hiding from that and I don’t care if every person on the team says they need to play better —— it starts with me playing better at the quarterback position and not putting our team in difficult situations. There’s no hiding from that and it is what it is. I appreciate him saying that, but it’s not on him. It’s on me and I need to stop throwing interceptions.”
The Bengals look like they’re running routes in cement. With Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins facing double coverages, Andrei Iosivas and Mike Gesicki and Chase Brown are supposed to be reasonable options. They’re not open either. And the run game remains non-existent.
“I call the plays. I’ve got to keep us out of danger. There’s some things I’ve got to do a better job establishing. When the offense doesn’t score points — when the head coach is the play caller, that’s where it ends right there.
“Again, put this on me. I’ve got to do a better job getting us into a rhythm, getting us to where we can sustain some drives and put points on the board. There’s some plays that he’s going to want to have back. I’m glad he hung in there. He made some plays for us down the stretch — three straight touchdown drives at the end of the game. I’m sure a lot of people wanted him on the bench at that point. I could hear it. We stuck with him and he comes back and has three straight drives for touchdowns, and that’s the Jake Browning I know. He’s resilient, has served adversity in the face, and you can count on him to keep bouncing back,” Taylor said. “Obviously, you’ve got to protect the ball better to beat a team of that caliber, so we’re not going to run from that. But to sit here and say I’m not proud of our football team for the way that they fought back, that wouldn’t be true. I’m extremely proud of these guys, the way they continue to fight in the face of adversity when it looks real dim, and all of a sudden there’s some hope there that we can get this thing done, and that’s what this team is made of. Five games in, that’s what I’m counting on to get us through this, the last 12 games, where we can go win some games. I’m not oblivious to what goes on in the AFC and our division.”
There’s the rub. The Bengals could lose in Green Bay next Sunday and still not be out of the hunt in the AFC North, with three home games coming up against the Steelers, Jets and Bears. They are 2-3 but still ahead of the 1-4 Browns and 1-4 Ravens.
“There’s going to be plenty of opportunity there if we can stick through this storm and stick together and find a way to put us in some better positions on offense together and score some points. I’m absolutely confident that we will get this thing turned around and fans will want to be in the stands, because I get it right now,” Taylor insisted. “They’re going to want to be in the stands and I look forward to sold out crowds again — back to what we’re used to. I promise you with every breath I got, we’re going to continue to work to get back to that.”
Barring any move by the front office, the Bengals have Browning as their quarterback, with any order of Brett Rypien, Mike White or Sean Campbell behind him. So of course, Taylor is going to be as supportive as he can of Browning.
“I do. Of course, after a game like that we’re going to look at all personnel to make sure we’re doing the right thing,” Taylor said. “I won’t shy away from that because it’s a very fair question after the amount of turnovers we had. To say Jake can’t win games for us, I believe Jake can win games for us. I do. We’ll just continue to look at everything we can personnel-wise.”
The message for Browning is the same as for the rest of the team.
“To stick together. I don’t like giving a message three weeks in a row,” Taylor said. “While I appreciate the heart and we’re sticking together, I don’t like that. That’s not what the NFL is about. The NFL is about winning games and moving on to the next one and creating momentum for yourself. We’re allowed to create momentum at different parts of the season. It hasn’t been these last three weeks. We have to start now. I believe in these guys. That’s what I just told them. If I’m betting on this team to find a way at 2-3, five games in, to find a way to be in contention for everything that we wanted to do, there’s a lot of football left and I believe we’re going to get it done.”
