Bengals Wet Themselves Against Winless Jets

The Bengals were riding high following their surprise win over the Steelers last Thursday. Now, following a disastrous loss to the Jets, the Bengals are back in crisis-mode.

You won’t believe this, but as I was writing, the New York Jets ripped off another 15 yard run.  They just had another.  There’s another!

This was another reminder of how much perception can change in one week.  The previously-wireless Jets abused the Cincinnati Bengals on the ground to the tune of 254 rushing yards, securing their first win of the season in a 39 - 38 shocker that sends the Bengals season back off the rails.  The Bengals were riding high following their surprise win over the Steelers last Thursday.  Ten days later, the alarm bells have been switched back on.

Jets QB Justin Fields, who was in the spotlight this past week for unfortunate reasons that weren’t even his fault, took out all of his frustration on a Bengals defense that had absolutely no answers.  Following some particularly damning comments by Jets owner Woody Johnson on Tuesday that implied that Fields couldn’t complete a pass in the Jets offense, it looked like Fields’ career in New York was nearing an expedited conclusion.  Against the Bengals’ no-show defense, though, Fields turned in a career-day.

All day long, Fields feasted on the Bengals D in the quick passing game, finishing an efficient 21/32 for 244 and 1 TD.  Crucially, Fields did not turn the ball over.  Fields’ work in the passing game was impressive enough, but the Jets did their real damage on the ground.  254 rushing yards is the most the Bengals have allowed since 2020, Burrow’s rookie season (in which they allowed an unbelievable 404 rushing yards to the Baltimore Ravens).

Even down by two-score at halftime, the Jets refused to give up on the run game.  That was the correct decision.  The Bengals were disorganized and unprepared.  The D-line was consistently pushed off the line of scrimmage and the linebackers consistently missed tackles.  The Jets hadn’t scored a touchdown in a week – they scored three in the fourth quarter alone against the Bengals.

For the Bengals, this is the ultimate disaster.  Losing to a winless team – by blowing a two-score halftime lead, no less – is a horrific way to follow-up a season-altering win.  The consistency on defense is just not there.  The Joe Flacco Phenomenon was fun while it lasted, but reality is setting in, and it feels like taking a Breece Hall shoulder pad to the windpipe.

This loss was straight out of the 2024-playbook.  Even on a day where the Bengals offense turned in a winning performance, totaling 398 yards and scoring a season-high 38 points, the defense couldn’t hold up its end of the bargain.  Bengals fans were hoping the Jets offense was the perfect “get-right” opponent for the Bengals D to figure some things out against a hapless opponent.  Instead, the Bengals D has become the get-right opponent for NFL offenses everywhere, even one with a QB who was taking shots from the owner this week for being a terrible passer.  Fields’ had a great day, but the questions about his viability as an NFL QB remain because, frankly, the Bengals aren’t exactly an NFL defense.

It cannot be overstated how massive this loss is.  Instead of getting back to .500, the Bengals fall to 3 - 5.  Ten days ago, it appeared the Bengals season was still bright and hopeful.  Now, it’s back to catastrophe.

It’s hard to make too many complaints about an offense that scored a season-high in points and gained a season-high in rushing yards, but the play-calling on the Bengals season-to-last drive was extremely questionable.  After the Jets scored a touchdown with 2:29 remaining in the game to make the score 38 - 32, the Bengals proceeded to throw three passes, despite the Bengals having rushed for 168 rushing yards up to that point.

A bigger frustration was the decision to target slot receiver Andrei Iosivas twice – after he was non-existent for the entire game – on the Bengals final drive of the game.  He got a hand on both passes, but couldn’t haul in either, including the final 4th down attempt that sealed it for the Jets.  Iosivas had bought himself some reprieve with a big-time third-down reception last week against the Steelers in the fourth quarter, but when the Bengals went to him twice in have-to-have situations, he couldn’t get the job done.

Again, it feels strange to be criticizing play-calling when the offense goes for nearly 400 total yards, but here we are.  The Bengals didn’t do enough of the little things to win, even against a winless opponent, and a lot of that falls on coaching.  Al Golden was brought in to get some improvement out of the younger players – well, outside of DJ Turner, where is it?

The tackling is atrocious.  The defensive line cannot penetrate, shred blocks, or create any disruption, whatsoever.  It’s not so hard to understand how a passing-challenged offense like the Jets could succeed when you see the gigantic pockets Fields was working in all game.  Fields was basically playing seven-on-seven.

Of course, the spotlight also has to fall on Zac Taylor.  As head coach, he’s responsible, ultimately, for the offense and defense.  The effort from young players like Demetrius Knight, Barrett Carter and Jordan Battle is there, but the execution is not.  Execution has been dreadful, and even worse, it appears the Bengals are actually regressing.

TJ Slaton was signed this offseason to help stiffen the Bengals run D, but he's been a complete non-factor this year. BJ Hill is dependable, but isn't making splash plays anymore. Joseph Ossai and Kris Jenkins were invisible against the Jets and outside of one play, so was Myles Murphy. The secondary, which had bailed the Bengals out with several key turnovers this year, was kept off-balance all day by Fields and Jets, who owned the NFL's worst passing attack.

Now, the Bengals will head to Chicago to face a Bears team that will be hungry to put their 30 - 16 drubbing at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens behind them.  The Ravens were starting a backup QB of their own, so the Bears certainly won’t be taking Flacco and the Bengals lightly.  In other bad news for the Bengals, the Bears are also a competent team at running the football, but considering the way the Bengals defend, a high school offense might be able to average 5.0 yards per attempt.  In two straight games, the Bengals have allowed 6.9 yards per carry or better.  That’s impossibly bad.

Just ten days ago, though, the Bengals inability to stop the run was just an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise sunny season-outlook.  Ten days later, that same nagging problem is now the critical culprit of the Bengals worst loss of the season, and the franchise is back in crisis-more.  Losing Joe Burrow was always going to be a setback for the Bengals, but even he couldn’t have done anything to prevent this loss.  After losing an incredible four games last year despite scoring 33 points or more, the Bengals have picked up right where they left off.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.