Bengals Beat: Resolving To Be Better In 2024 With 6 Improvements That Need To Be Made To Return To Super Bowl Contention

CINCINNATI — The 2023 season that began with such Super Bowl promise ended for all intents and purposes with a dud and a thud in Kansas City.

It was enough to make a grown man – or NFL coach – sick to his stomach.

The Bengals had Joe Burrow coming back for his fifth NFL season and an uneventful offseason for once. He headed into camp knowing he was on the verge of a life-changing contract. They brought back linebackers Logan Wilson and Germaine Pratt to a defense that was coming off a great two-year run.

They had continuity in the coaching staff. Brian Callahan and Lou Anarumo were returning to their respective offensive and defensive coordinator positions.

They had Tee Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd returning to the offense with Burrow.

There was plenty to feel optimistic about a team coming off its best two-year run in franchise history. Then July 27 happened.

Burrow’s right calf grabbed him badly in the sweltering heat of the second practice of camp. The bad juju was just beginning. The Bengals went winless in the preseason as they tried to figure out their offense if Burrow was limited coming back for the season opener in Cleveland.

With Joe Burrow clearly limited by the calf, the Bengals got punched in the mouth in the rain by Cleveland, lost the next week against Baltimore and were overwhelmed by Tennessee after an unimpressive but victorious showing over the Rams.

The Bengals seemed to find some rhythm against Cardinals and Seattle and then really showed hope against the 49ers and Bills and suddenly the Bengals were 5-3 heading into Baltimore.

But these finesse Bengals got handled again in Baltimore when the Ravens and Jadeveon Clowney came after Burrow. Clowney fell on Burrow, injuring a wrist that may or may not have been compromised. They lost badly to the Ravens and the next week against the Steelers at home with Jake Browning.

Three straight wins with Browning, including two in overtime, had Bengals fans thinking there might be something magical happening. Then the Bengals just hammered physically in Pittsburgh before losing Sunday in Kansas City.

“I’m just sick for our guys,” Taylor said. “You ask them to fight all week and come in here and play together in a tough road environment. That is what they did. Every guy left it on the field. It was an emotional game, a physical game. Things we knew were going to happen happened, and we came up short.”

That sets up an exhibition game on Sunday at Paycor between the Browns and Bengals. The Browns have been the tougher, smarter and more physical team all season, with a clearly superior defense. They are heading to the playoffs with loads of momentum and the Bengals are headed home to watch the postseason from their couches.

No wonder Zac Taylor said he felt sick for his team.

Here are six resolutions for the Bengals in 2024:

Message the urgency of the offseason, drill it home in training camp:

The Bengals have had terrific participation in the Zac Taylor era in the offseason. The attitude has been healthy. But the results to start the season have not. They’ve drafted players with great character. Taylor’s biggest challenge this offseason will be to balance keeping his players fresh while stressing more urgency and finding ways to hammer it home in OTAs, minicamp and training camp.

“No doubt. We faced a lot this year,” Sam Hubbard said. “A lot of adversity. I’m proud of this locker room. I love how everyone carries themselves and how they treat each other, how they worked week-in and week-out. Despite any circumstances, we tried to get the win, we stayed together. I’m proud of the locker room.”

The Bengals can’t keep stalling in the first month of the season. There simply needs to be more urgency from the top down to get the Bengals off to stronger starts to give them a chance in the toughest division in the NFL. The Bengals are 1-9 in the first two weeks of the season under Taylor, with the one win coming in overtime against Minnesota in 2021. The first two weeks isn’t everything, of course, but it gives you a chance if you build momentum early instead of constantly starting in a hole. You can’t keep starting 0-2.

Burrow needs normalcy:

He was so close to it this offseason. But running out of the pocket on a scramble drill on July 27 turned into a nightmare with a significant strain of his right calf. Now, he’s got a surgically repaired right wrist he’s going to be rehabbing for the first several months of the offseason. Can Burrow be back to normal by the start of training camp? He needs reps in training camp with the starters that he was deprived of this season.

“He is one of the best players on planet Earth,” Taylor said Sunday. “That is just a part of life. You have to be able to deal with it and move on. We are not the only team that deals with losing good players. I am proud of the way this team is able to fight and the way Jake (Browning) has stepped in to take the lead. This team has not laid down for anybody. It has not gone our way the last two weeks, but that doesn’t mean I am not proud of what these guys have done for us.”

Figure out what to do without Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd:

Both receivers are likely gone if the Bengals can’t get a Higgins extension deal done with agent David Mulugheta. Will they decide to tag Higgins for $21.6 million this season and trade him? Or will they let him go and take draft compensation? Or will they tag him and keep him around for one more year to run it back with Burrow? There are so many directions they could go with a receiver that is regarded as a clear No. 1 by many teams in need of a go-to receiver. Boyd has had a nice eight-year run in Cincinnati. The two were chatting in the locker room in KC, perhaps for one of the final times together.

Give Burrow a dynamic running game:

Chase Brown is a good start but for the last four seasons with Burrow, you always got the sense that the Bengals run on offense because they have to, not because they want to. Every team that plays the Bengals also knows this. The Bengals want to pass all the time to make the most of their weapons on the outside. But in the NFL, if defenses can turn you one-dimensional, they will. Joe Mixon might be gone so they are going to need to find another running back to go with Brown. The Bengals showed thunder and lightning with Mixon and Brown in the three-game winning streak with Browning. Then they got away from it in Pittsburgh and in the second half against Kansas City. If Burrow is going to be a healthy championship quarterback, he’s going to need defenses to at least think the Bengals can run the ball.

Be more physical in the trenches:

The inability to gain a yard when they need it over the last three seasons is a tired theme. The Bengals must reassess their short-yardage approach. Perhaps Joe Burrow would have checked out of the look Browning got on fourth-and-1 in the third quarter Sunday in KC. The Bengals lose too often with the game on the line in short yardage. They couldn’t pick up a yard on three tries in Pittsburgh with a chance to pick up a touchdown before halftime.

“You know we got stopped on the 4th-and-1 there on the goal line,” Taylor said. “We just struggled to get some rhythm. I don’t know how many series we had after that. You have to give them credit. It was 4th-and-1. You are just trying to get some points there. I just feel like at 4th-and-1 we need to go for it there. They played a goal line front. It was a little further situation than we expected. It was a good play by them. They did good making the play off the front.”

On defense, they were good with DJ Reader, one of the most underrated nose tackles in football. They stopped the Vikings twice in overtime and won the game because of it, even though Reader had suffered the injury in the first quarter. But Reader – if he re-signs with the Bengals – likely won’t be ready for the start of next season so they’re going to have to get a physical two-gap specialist to complement BJ Hill. The Bengals finished in last place in the AFC North for many reasons but at the top of the list was their 0-5 record against the Browns, Steelers and Ravens. All three are likely headed to the postseason because they dominate the trenches on both sides of the ball.

Stop allowing explosive plays on defense:

We’ll break this down into two segments. Linebackers and secondary. Logan Wilson and Germaine Pratt each took a step back this season. There’s no questioning that. The two linebackers missed tackles and were not in the right run fits too often this season. This is why the Bengals gave up the most explosive runs this season than any in the previous three under Lou Anarumo. They simply have to play better as the Bengals have invested in both and both are capable of bounce-back seasons in 2024. The secondary went through bad growing pains this year, and it was clear for all to see. The 86-yarder to George Pickens, the 66-yarder to Pickens, the 67-yarder to Rashee Rice on Sunday. All the result of either poor technique, poor communication or both.

“Yeah, I feel like we’re always talking about special plays, and they just keep coming up,” Dax Hill said. “We got to be better. Now, it’s too late. But we got to keep getting better from what we’ve done and try to do our best to not make those mistakes.”

Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt are the future of the secondary, along with Jordan Battle and DJ Turner, who both certainly showed great potential as rookies. DJ Ivey showed promise before his ACL tear against the Vikings.

In Summary:

Fans have every right to feel optimistic about the future of a franchise with a franchise quarterback that will be 27 next season. But they also have reason to expect the Bengals to be much better than they displayed at times this season, with or without injuries. Take a look at what the Browns and Steelers overcame to put themselves in position. They simplified the game and relied on defenses that gave a well-managed offense a chance. The Ravens? The D in DNA is for defense.

The Bengals? Their strength is a close-knit locker room with some of the brightest minds in the game at the controls in the coaching booth.

“Extremely bright,” Taylor said of the team’s future. “I just got done telling these guys that not every locker room is like this in this league. Guys that play for each other and work every day since July 25th out there practicing. We just came up a little bit short. Unfortunately, not every year is your year. We still have one more game to play. It is big game for us at home against a divisional team. We are not sitting here like our season is over because we still have one big game left. We are looking forward to playing in front of our fans and our guys will give their best effort.”

And that’s the just beginning for 2024.