The Cincinnati Bengals are back in the kind of spot that puts Zac Taylor under the microscope, and the latest stumble didn’t help. A 22-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 4 brought the conversation right back to the same issue: Cincinnati kept asking Joe Burrow to carry the offense through the air, and the results were ugly.
Taylor didn’t exactly quiet the criticism by refusing to lean on the run game, even in a close contest. Burrow was dropped back more than 50 times against a Jaguars front that kept making him pay. It’s a familiar storyline, one that’s followed Burrow for much of his career, and the question keeps hanging there: whatever happened to the under-center wrinkle?
To Taylor’s credit, Cincinnati has been dealing with some real absences. Ja’Marr Chase suffered a concussion, and Tee Higgins was eventually injured, too.
That gives the head coach a little cover. But it doesn’t change the bigger picture much.
The Bengals have gone from 2-0 to 2-2 in a hurry, and the pressure around Taylor is only going to keep building.
Zac Taylor Hot Seat Meter after Week 4: COOLING AGENT INCOMING - 4.5/10
The schedule at least offers Taylor a chance to settle things down. Cincinnati’s next opponent is the 0-4 Miami Dolphins, a team that hasn’t scored more than 13 points in any game this season.
If the Bengals were facing a stronger opponent, the temperature around Taylor would be a lot higher. Last week, after the loss in Pittsburgh, the meter sat at 3.5, and Jacksonville is hardly a soft landing spot.
Still, this one in Miami doesn’t look like an easy breath either. It has “trap” written all over it, especially if the Bengals keep rolling out an offense that feels one-dimensional and short on a real running game.
Miami, for all its struggles, has been scrapping. Three of the Dolphins’ four losses came against 4-0 teams - the Vikings, 49ers and Chiefs - and their season-opening defeat in Las Vegas looks better now after the 3-1 Raiders nearly beat Kansas City in Week 4.
So this game doesn’t have the feel of the easy win it once did. It’s not the two-touchdown Bengals walkover it looked like before the season. The concern is real now.
Even so, the matchup still gives Cincinnati a path. Joe Burrow should be able to carve up that Dolphins secondary no matter which wideouts are available, and Miami’s pass rush hasn’t been much of a threat. The Dolphins didn’t record a sack until they got four against Kyler Murray on Sunday.
If Taylor gets the job done in Week 5 and brings the Bengals into the bye week with a winning record, the pressure should ease. But the schedule gets tougher after that, with a road trip to Baltimore waiting on the other side of the break. By then, Cincinnati’s offense needs to look a lot more balanced, especially with an extra week to prepare for the Ravens.
In Other News...
Bengals First-Round Pick Is Already Becoming A Real Roster Debate
Shemar Stewart entered his rookie season with the kind of athletic upside that can tempt a coaching staff to keep investing reps, but the Bengals have not been able to get much back from their first-round pick so far. Injuries have slowed his start, and his playing time has been limited enough that he has yet to carve out anything close to a steady role on the defensive front.
Stewarts situation has now turned into the kind of roster conversation teams usually hope to avoid this early in a draft class. Cincinnati still has every reason to want his talent to show up on Sundays, but with very few snaps in recent games, the question is no longer just when he breaks through. It is whether the Bengals can keep waiting for that breakthrough while trying to manage the rest of the season around him. [Read more 🡒]
Joe Burrow Gave Bengals Fans A Laugh They Really Needed
The Bengals early-season momentum has hit a rough patch, with two straight losses sending the mood around the team from upbeat to uneasy. As Cincinnati tries to reset before its next trip against the Miami Dolphins, Joe Burrow offered a small reminder that not every tense stretch has to stay tense for long.
During a recent press conference, Burrow gave reporters and fans a laugh when he reacted to the word galled with apparent unfamiliarity. It was a light moment in a week when the Bengals could use one, and it briefly shifted attention away from the skid and back to the quarterbacks quick wit as Cincinnati looks to stop the slide. [Read more 🡒]
Joe Burrow Is Pushing A Bengals Offensive Change That Still Isn't Working
The Bengals have spent time trying to build more of their offense from under center, a shift that was supposed to add variety and help them find another gear. It showed up in their game plan again before the recent loss to the Jaguars, but as the game unfolded, Cincinnati moved away from it and leaned back on what has long been more familiar.
Joe Burrow said the team is still committed to giving that approach more reps, even if the execution is not there yet. There are other moving parts for Cincinnati too, with Bryce Young potentially in line for more snaps because of injuries among the top receivers, while the defense continues to deal with problems covering and tackling tight ends. [Read more 🡒]