Joe Burrow is playing the best football of his five-year career, and the Cincinnati Bengals are still unfathomably 4-6 after losing another heartbreaker to the Baltimore Ravens last night 35-34. Burrow was masterful once again against the black and purple and threw for 428 yards with no interceptions and four touchdowns, with a quarterback rating of 116. The Bengals signal caller was calm through the chaos all night taking some brutal hits and did a fantastic job of stepping up and manipulating the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield. His running mate, Ja’Marr Chase was equally impressive going for 264 receiving yards on 11 receptions and three touchdown catches. You can’t ask more out of the two Bengals’ star players as the team behind them and the lack of support from the front office is failing these two the most. Let’s dig deeper.
The Cincinnati Bengals Front Office Is Failing Joe Burrow
Help Wanted
The bottom line for this 2024 version of the orange and black is they simply don’t seem to have enough good players, especially on the defensive side of the ball. They lack athleticism, toughness, and the big-play ability that prior Bengals teams had under defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. They have only one true pass rusher in Trey Hendrickson and they have been tinkering with the secondary all season long. Cincinnati has improved slightly against the run the last two weeks with rookies Kris Jenkins and McKinnley Jackson playing well.
Offensively, they need more from the running game and could use a boost from the wide receiver room with Tee Higgins being limited the last five games. Burrow and Chase are the overwhelming offensive firepower and the lack of help seems to be wearing on them as evidenced when Burrow stated after the loss, “Look at how we are playing, and then you look at Trey Hendrickson and how he is playing, yeah, it’s a tough pill to swallow. We had our opportunities, obviously. We know it’s tough, and you feel like you’re playing well enough to win, and you’re not. But there’s always more to do.”
Draft Woes
When you operate the way the Brown/Blackburn family does, you are at the mercy of drafting and developing players well with the smallest scouting and player development department in the league. This organization has massively fallen short in both areas since 2022. They haven’t hit on draft picks conisistnely enough and this has put them in a bind with a lack of talent and depth across the board. Don’t even mention trading for players to make the roster better either when top teams around you are improving at the deadline yearly. This offseason, the front office has to truly examine how to improve in all these areas if they want to reach another Super Bowl.
Carson Palmer Redux
Carson Palmer had a solid career in Cincinnati and offered a difficult lesson to be learned for this organization if they are to modernize with the rest of the NFL. Bengals fans have seen this movie before and don’t want Burrow to have the same fate as the other famous number nine. Those that fail to learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.
Main Photo: Albert Cesare/The Enquirer-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
