Bengals Blown Out Again, This Time by Broncos

Jake Browning's second start of the season looked an awful lot like his first – emphasis on the "awful."

The NFL season usually makes no sense, so it was fitting that the Cincinnati Bengals, following their franchise-worst 38-point loss last week to the Minnesota Vikings, looked like a better football team than the Denver Broncos on Monday Night…

Just kidding. The Bengals looked like the worst team in the league. In their 28 - 3 loss to the Broncos, the Bengals looked exactly the same as they did against the Vikings: disheveled and disoriented. And, following another blowout loss, this time by 25 points (improvement!), the situation in Cincinnati is starting to look dire.

Life was always going to get harder for the Bengals following the season-altering injury to Joe Burrow two weeks ago. A team doesn’t get better after losing its best player. But what’s happening in Cincinnati is more than one inactive player, even one as great as Burrow. This team is coming apart at the seams – one silly mistake, one missed assignment, and one wasted opportunity at a time.

If you’re looking for an easy scapegoat, look no further than the head coach Zac Taylor. There’s no hiding from this. Eight penalties in the first half says plenty, but the uninspired play by the veterans on the roster is deafening. Burrow leaving the lineup explains the lack of explosiveness on offense, but what’s the excuse for the startling lack of effort or urgency all over the place?

The problems are numerous and obvious. The team can’t get lined up correctly on either side of the ball. They basically forfeit the line of scrimmage on every play. They aren’t good at anything.

It’s not exactly panic time, because, for once, the Bengals bought themselves some breathing room with their 2 - 0 start that’s looking more suspect and fraudulent by the minute. Right now, the Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars would both be favored against the Bengals if they played again, without question. It’s hard to imagine what team wouldn’t be favored – maybe the 0 - 4 Tennessee Titans and their hot-seated head coach, former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan!

That pretty much sums up the state of the Bengals after four weeks – maybe better than the winless Titans. For a team that rightly had aspirations of a deep playoff run, this season is already teetering on outright catastrophe. Given the Baltimore Ravens’ struggles to start the year, the AFC North is wide open, and it’s impossible to imagine a Burrow-led Bengals team not being in the mix. With Jake Browning at the helm, though, being in the mix is what’s far-fetched.

Looking ahead, the schedule is doing the Bengals no favors either. Next up are the Detroit Lions, winners of three-straight and fresh off a dusting of the same Cleveland Browns team that took a missed field goal and a missed extra point for the Bengals to beat in Week One – and that was with Burrow! After the Lions, it’s the Green Bay Packers, and then the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bengals are staring down the barrel of 2 - 5 before some “respite” against the 0 - 4 New York Jets, who also lost on Monday Night.

If the Bengals can find a way to win one of the next two games, the season can still be salvaged. Baltimore is a mess, Cleveland is bad, and the Steelers look destined to finish 9 - 8. The Bengals can still squeeze into a wild card spot, but they’re going to have to right the ship quickly. So far, there’s no indication they’re capable of making even the simplest adjustments, hence two straight blowout losses. There’s no reason to expect significant changes, because they aren’t a significantly different team than they were last year – just without the QB that hides all the blemishes.

Somebody – anybody – needs to step up. The two-game cushion the Bengals bought themselves is gone, and the season is already slipping away.