The Bengals keep winning, and for now that matters more than the way they’re doing it.
Cincinnati is 5-2 entering Week 9, sitting among 11 NFL teams with two losses or fewer. In the AFC, only six teams are in that group, and the Bengals are tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the loss column in the AFC North race.
Still, the conversation around this team keeps circling back to the same question: can a pass-first offense hold up when the calendar turns colder and the games get tighter? The Bengals have leaned heavily on Joe Burrow and a deep group of receivers, while the run game has been more of a supporting act than a foundation.
That showed up again on Nov. 1 against the Tennessee Titans. Cincinnati ran for fewer than 100 yards for the fifth time this season, and Burrow was asked to throw 48 passes, his second-highest total of the year behind the 54 attempts he had against Jacksonville on Oct.
- The Bengals still came away with a 43-36 overtime win over a Titans team that had just one victory.
Even when Cincinnati does crack 100 rushing yards, it barely clears the mark. The Bengals have reached 106 and 117 rushing yards this season, but the offense has mostly lived through Burrow’s arm and the weapons around him.
That’s where the skepticism comes in. The old-school belief says playoff football is built on the ground game, not a quarterback carrying the load every week. Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher pushed back on that idea.
“I would push back on the notion that we haven't worked to develop, and aren't still working to develop, the other phases of our offense," Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said. "And we will continue to do that.
So, all of those things are things that we factor into how we play. And again, we try to make the decisions that are going to help us win every football game, knowing that there are risks involved.
"There's risk, regardless how you cut it. So yeah, we'll keep working and working to improve all the facets of our offense and continuing to be one of the best units out there.”
There’s also a practical reason the Bengals can keep leaning this way: Burrow keeps making it work.
Against Tennessee, he was sacked three times and hit nine times, even with the Titans having traded away sack leader Jeffery Simmons just days earlier. But Cincinnati’s offensive line has generally done enough to keep Burrow upright, and when he gets the chance to drop back, the results have been there.
The numbers back that up. The Bengals lead the NFL in passing offense at 288.4 yards per game.
They also lead the league in scoring offense with 20 touchdowns, and only four of those have come on rushing plays. One of those rushing scores - Burrow’s overtime run against Tennessee - wasn’t even a designed carry.
Burrow also owns the NFL’s highest completion percentage at 73%. And even after a rough night against the Titans, when he threw three interceptions for the first time since Week 1 of 2022, he still finished with six total touchdowns, including five through the air and one on the ground.
Pitcher said that’s the key to why this approach can keep working.
“The only way you can do it is if you have a quarterback who can process and decide, like Joe processes and decides, and then you pair that with a unit that I do think has grown in protection, and I think because of how often we've thrown the ball over the years, we've gotten really good at our planning in protection, particularly when it comes to the known passing downs and all the different looks we can get from defenses," Pitcher said. "So, I just think that's it's just an example of (how) we've grown into something that the unique skills of our quarterback and of our rare receivers has probably positioned us and maybe only us to to play that way, and it doesn't mean we're not going to continue working on the other phases of our offense to maximize our production there, because we are. That's important to me, but we are uniquely suited to do what we do in the pass game.”
In Other News...
Tee Higgins Had The Perfect Reaction After A Wild Bengals Moment
Tee Higgins spent Sunday doing what he has become so good at for Cincinnati, making big plays in a high-stakes game. The Bengals outlasted Tennessee 43-36 in overtime to move to 5-2, and Higgins was central to the win with 10 catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns, including an 18-yard grab late in regulation that helped keep the offense on schedule when it mattered most.
Before any of that, though, Higgins found himself at the center of a very different kind of moment during pregame introductions. A ball struck him in the head, the clip spread quickly online, and the scene had the kind of strange, viral energy that tends to follow players around the internet long after the game ends. Higgins' reaction to the whole thing only added to the buzz, turning an odd pregame mishap into one more memorable Bengals moment from a wild afternoon. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Defense Just Made The Trade Deadline Feel Urgent
The overtime win over Tennessee bought the Bengals a little breathing room in the standings, but it did not do much to quiet the concern around their defense. Cincinnati gave up 36 points and 440 total yards in Week 8, and the issues that have lingered all season showed up again in the secondary, where pass coverage has been a recurring problem rather than a one-game blip.
With the trade deadline approaching, that kind of performance only sharpens the focus on cornerback help. The Bengals have bodies on the roster, but the mix has not been enough to steady the back end, and the market for upgrades is not especially friendly. If Cincinnati is serious about making a move, it will have to navigate both the cost of available corners and the reality that help may be harder to land than the need is to see. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Win Came With One Big Catch Fans Cant Ignore
The Bengals win over the Titans came with one of their best all-around Pro Football Focus showings of the season, a 87.6 overall grade that reflected how well Cincinnati played on both sides of the ball. Joe Burrow was the engine again, earning a 93.1 offensive grade while piling up more than 450 total yards and six touchdowns in a performance that kept the offense humming for much of the afternoon.
On the other side of the ball, the grades told a more complicated story. DJ Turner II turned in the games top defensive mark before leaving with a lower-body injury, a development that could matter just as much as the result itself for a defense that has leaned on his emergence. Several other Bengals also graded well, but Turners exit is the kind of detail that can linger long after a strong team performance. [Read more 🡒]