Bengals Beat: Zac Taylor, Joe Flacco See ‘Tremendous Opportunity’, A Light At End Of Tunnel Starting Thursday Against The Steelers

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The season is on the line Thursday night for the Bengals at home against their archrival Steelers.

This is not ideal by any means and not what the Bengals expected coming into the season full of hope with a healthy Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. But all that changed with Burrow tore ligaments in his left big toe and he was sidelined for an estimated three months after surgery.

Except for the game Jake Browning finished against Jacksonville when Burrow was injured, the Bengals haven’t won again. The latest loss wasn’t so much discouraging as it was disappointing.

“Just sick after that loss because each half, I thought the defense in the first half gave us a chance,” Taylor said. “The offense just had four possessions that didn’t generate any offense and give us a chance there to take a lead, take a tie into halftime. In the second half the offense came out I thought played well and the defense couldn’t quite get off the field. So when we talk about complimentary football that is what we are talking about and it wasn’t overall good enough. You see pieces that we can lean into and continue to grow, but losing this game on the road there is no consolation there. We expected to win. I thought we should have won that game.”

The Bengals fell 27-18 Sunday at Lambeau Field because Joe Flacco was clearly adjusting to the Bengals offense in the first half and because the defense couldn’t come up with a stop when they desperately needed it in the second half. Flacco offered promise of what could be in a more functional – if not dynamic – offense.

The 2-4 Bengals have the 4-1 Steelers coming to town Thursday night with a chance to put the AFC North in their back pocket before Halloween. With a win, the Bengals could get themselves right back into contention in the division. If they managed to sweep the Steelers, Jets and Bears – all at home – they have a chance to go 5-4 into their Week 10 bye. That’s going to be a lot easier said than done.

“You don’t have a lot of time to lick your wounds here. It is more of a mental week this week, but what a tremendous opportunity. Look at where our division is at. What a tremendous opportunity to go get the team that is leading it right now, and our first opportunity at home, in primetime. They have a short week. We have a short week. So it’s a fair playing field. They are going to come in here with a lot of confidence, obviously, with the way they have won their games and we are going to find a way to get up for it and do everything we can to find a win.”

That’s one way to put it. Ja’Marr Chase had a more colorful take.

“We know the Steelers are going to come in and try to raw-dog us and kill us,” Chase said in graphic terms. “But we will be ready for that challenge and waiting for it.”

The Bengals are going to have to meet the physicality of the Steelers and for 30 minutes on offense – on the road at Lambeau Field Sunday – the Bengals met that challenge. They showed a willingness to run the ball down the throat of the Packers. They mixed in some short passes over the middle and sideline routes. It looked like an offense that had rhythm and purpose.

Speaking of which, with the firing of Brian Callahan in Tennessee on Monday, could the former Bengals OC return as an advisor like Josh McDaniels did in 2011 for New England’s run to Super Bowl XLVI? Callahan could bring his father Bill as an assistant, who is considered one of the best offensive line coaches in the game in the last three decades. That could bring a spark to a unit that has struggled at times under coach Scott Peters. Callahan was 1-5 this season and 4-19 over two seasons as Titans head coach.

But that’s not going to help them win a must-win game this Thursday on a short week. Mental reps and technical execution will. That’s what the Bengals demonstrated in the second half Sunday, and it’s got to be on display from the start Thursday.

“Yeah, I think it has more of a chance to do that than not. You have confidence, but careful because we didn’t do enough to win there, but there is confidence on offense with Joe (Flacco) just showing up that we can continue to play off that. It will be an entirely different defense, a different structure, and again we just have to come together as a team to figure it out and find a way to win.”

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin added some fuel to the fire with a curious reaction to Cleveland GM Andrew Berry trading Joe Flacco in midseason to a Bengals team that was struggling badly without Joe Burrow.

“Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us because it doesn’t make sense to me to trade a QB you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent that’s hurting in that area. But that’s just my personal feeling,” Tomlin said.

The Bengals came out and actually punished the Packers to open the third quarter, which is exactly the kind of smashmouth they’re going to have to pay Thursday night if they are going to keep the Steelers defense honest. The Bengals showed some commitment to actually running the ball, something that had been sorely lacking the previous three blowout losses to Minnesota, Denver and Detroit.

Zac Taylor will point to the fact that the Bengals fell behind in those games and couldn’t commit to the run the way he likes to in order to let his play-action or misdirection passing attack take full flight. While there’s some truth to that, the Bengals are a pass-first offense built around Joe Burrow’s brain and arm and the arms and legs of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

All of those elements were on full display in the second half, as the Bengals actually put 18 points on the scoreboard in 30 minutes of football. The offense that finished the first half with four first downs ended the game with 20. They had 65 yards at the half and ended with 268.

Flacco, who was 29-of-45 for 219 yards and two touchdowns on fourth down, was smiling and relaxed in talking about his Bengals debut Sunday, knowing he now has some first-rate receivers to target. And he has a head coach in Zac Taylor that worked ’round the clock to prepare him in only five days for his Cincinnati debut.

“Zac’s been great man. Level-headed,” Flacco said. “I mean obviously he’s been a lot of help for me this week, just putting the game plan together. Not trying to get too complicated with things, using the common sense of it. So far, yeah, he’s been great, and then today on the sideline you never know, you get on the field, and you haven’t been with the coaching core and what’s his demeanor like on game day and I thought he was great. I thought he did a great job leading us and giving us the confidence and the stuff we need to go out there and win a game.

“I think sometimes, listen starting in this league is a big deal. I think sometimes you can make it too big of a deal in your head. So, I think for me this time around it was just, hey man, you’re playing a game, and basically it just goes in line with that. Let the game come to you a little bit, play each play, do what you’re supposed to on that play. Even though it is a big deal, trying to downplay it a little bit so you can go out there and have fun and play your best.”

What Flacco learned about Ja’Marr Chase Sunday is that he can make something out of almost nothing. On that fourth-down touchdown one-handed grab, he ran an up-and-out, fought off an arm grab from the defensive back and caught the ball when the game was still in doubt. Plays like that don’t require communication. They require a veteran quarterback to put the ball in a spot where the star receiver can make an adjustment off the line to start the play and at the end to finish it off.

“I think it was pretty good,” Flacco said of communication with Taylor and his offensive weapons. “I mean there were a couple plays where out there, I remember one play, I think we ended up kind of getting what we wanted. I think they got pass interference on Ja’Marr (Chase) down the right sideline or holding or whatever they ended up calling. But I definitely didn’t call the right play, and I said, that’s kind of why I signaled out to Ja’Marr, hey you just run this route, I know we can get that done. But overall, I think it went pretty well.”

Flacco also had advice for his young teammates trying to rescue the season Thursday.

“It’s tough to like generally say something for the team,” Flacco said. “But I think as you can see individuals throughout the course of the game or in the locker room right now, I think it could be very helpful to go up to the individuals that maybe feel like they’re having a hard time or whatever it may be and give them that load of confidence. Listen, sometimes you get so focused on what you didn’t do well, and you think everybody is looking at you, oh my gosh, everybody’s looking at me and I didn’t do this well. Nobody’s looking at you man. Everybody’s worried about what they’re doing. And I think good football teams are made up of guys that can do that, that are so focused on what they’re doing, that everything else comes together. So, it’s just a reminder to some of those guys that maybe are feeling that way, like ‘Hey man, like nobody’s paying that much attention, like you just keep doing what you’re doing, like the next play is the most important, and the next game to a certain level.’ So, I think if we can keep that mindset, we’ll be alright.”