PITTSBURGH – Didn’t see that coming, did you?
Neither did the Bengals.
But maybe they should have. Maybe everyone should have.
After a three-game winning streak put the Bengals back in playoff position, they were run out of the Steel City Saturday evening with their tails between their legs in a 34-11 embarrassment that all but ends realistic playoff chances.
They’re not eliminated but they lost any chance they had for controlling their destiny and after the game, the Bengals were coming to grips with the fact – as Jake Browning put – they got their “asses kicked” in a bad way.
The Bengals have a kryptonite this season, and it’s called the AFC North. The two-time division champs are an incomprehensible 0-5 against the division they’ve owned since 2021.
The reason?
They aren’t tough enough. It’s a football cliché, sure. But in the case of the 2023 Bengals, it’s sadly a defining character of what they are as a team. The division caught up to the Bengals this season. And the Bengals had no answers to the test.
“It’s been a humbling year in that regard.” Zac Taylor on 0-5 in AFC North pic.twitter.com/g6VJkXKAMt
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) December 24, 2023
Yep, they’ve lost Joe Burrow, DJ Reader and didn’t have Ja’Marr Chase Saturday. No question, not having them hurts. But that’s no reason not to get pushed around by their big brothers all season without offering any fight. And on Saturday, there was zero resistance.
Starting on opening day in Cleveland, the Bengals have been beaten and beaten up by Cleveland, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. They have allowed 421 and 397 yards respectively to the Steelers in two losses.
They were gashed by Cleveland for 206 yards in the opener. Baltimore ran for 178 the next week.
On Saturday, Mason Rudolph had completions of 86, 66 and 44 yards. Great numbers in the scratch game, terrible if you’re defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who dared Rudolph to beat them and he did, like a drum.
After showing character and grit for the last three weeks, including a pair of overtime wins, the Bengals were blown out of Acrisure Stadium Saturday.
The loss revealed what the Bengals true problems are. They get pushed around far too easily by the big brothers in their division. Their first goal every season is to win the division and Zac Taylor has rightfully pointed to the AFC North as the toughest division in football.
In 2023, the Bengals weren’t nearly tough enough. Duke Tobin, the Bengals director of player personnel, sat in the Acrisure Stadium press level Saturday and watched.
He knows he’s going to have a lot of holes to fill this offseason. The Bengals are going to have to fill DJ Reader’s massive spot in the middle of the defensive line. Even if he re-signs, he almost certainly won’t be ready for the start of next season.
The Bengals are going to need bodies in the middle of the line that do to others what others have done to the Bengals – win in the trenches.
As for the offense, as long as the Bengals are a pass-first team, you can expect to see more teams just throw caution to the wind, line up all sorts of pressure and come at Joe Burrow or Jake Browning, because they can’t run the ball.
If the Bengals don’t find a way to be more balanced on offense, their struggles will continue. The Bengals are committed to a certain style. The DNA of the Browns, Steelers and Ravens is built to bully teams like the Bengals.
This year, there’s no doubting they did. The Bengals will point to their AFC North titles of ’21 and ’22 as justification of their approach, and they were significant accomplishments. But the defense of those teams deserve more credit. Perhaps the division finally caught up to the Bengals and their offense this season.
Ironically, the Bengals have shown the ability to bully other teams in their two-year run. That’s the sad part. The Bengals have beaten the Bills twice, including a foot-stomping 27-10 win in Buffalo in the snow last January. They beat the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes three times and nearly beat them a fourth in January in Kansas City. They went to Tennessee in 2021 and won a 19-16 game where they had to win in a rock fight against Derrick Henry.
The Bengals have shown the willingness to win ugly and be the tougher team. This year, though, within the confines of their own division, the clearly haven’t come close to putting that grit on display.
The game Saturday came down to three chances in the second quarter to gain a yard at the Steelers 5, with the Bengals down 21-0. They passed once and then Joe Mixon couldn’t gain a yard. Then, after a timeout, the Browning threw a back fade to the pylon but the ball never made it to Tee Higgins because Browning was under pressure.
The last three seasons, the Bengals have failed numerous times to gain a yard when it mattered. Saturday, that came up to bite them again. That’s a DNA problem. When the Steelers saw shotgun, they knew the Bengals weren’t running the ball. They turned T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith loose and there was nothing Browning or the Bengals could do.
“I don’t think anyone is going to get on the plane feeling like I played really good” Ted Karras “We didn’t really do anything good today” pic.twitter.com/0r5DdEDbmX
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) December 24, 2023
Whatever, they’re not tough enough in the trenches and Tobin must alter the makeup of the team this offseason if the Bengals are serious about making a deep run in 2024.
Sure, the Bengals could win their final two games and shock the world but remember, the Bengals won two overtime games with Jake Browning, revealing just show how razor-thin their margin was without Joe Burrow.
And maybe, Browning just found his level. Yes, he is 0-2 against the Steelers and yes, he made three “dumb decisions” with the ball in his hand. But to blame Saturday’s loss on Browning is to not see the forest for the trees.
The Bengals will have to remake big parts of their defense. They’re going to need much, much better play from their safeties next season. The overrun by Dax Hill on the George Pickens 86-yard TD was a mistake you can’t have in the middle of the field. Germaine Pratt and Logan Wilson have to raise their game.
Whatever the case, the Bengals were never in a game that they had to have. They couldn’t beat a Steelers quarterback that was their third-string option before Kenny Pickett went down with an ankle injury.
When Joe Burrow went down in Baltimore, there was the sense that the Bengals season – as it involved Super Bowl dreaming – was over. But to dismiss what the Bengals have revealed in their makeup as a team is to miss the point.
The Ravens, playing with a second and third string quarterback for much of last season, nearly defeated the Bengals in Cincinnati with Tyrod Huntley. They have continued that in two wins this season. The Steelers have run roughshod over the Bengals twice, amassing over 800 yards in offense. And the Bengals have never really had an answer for the Browns in the Joe Burrow era, going 1-5 with No. 9 as quarterback.
See a pattern?
In this lost season, the trend has been unmistakable.
