DENVER (WKRC) – This time there were no five turnovers to blame for a blowout loss rather signs that this year’s Bengals might just be a bad football team with no real definitive answers for how they can turn things around.

In Monday’s 28-3 loss at the Denver Broncos that was far worse than the final score, the Bengals were outgained 512-159 and committed more penalties (11) than first downs gained (9). The 353-yard margin they were outgained was the fourth-worst in franchise history, outdone only by the following:

– The 1968 team, in the franchise’s first NFL season, was outgained by 456 yards in a loss to the Oakland Raiders.

– The 2006 team, which was outgained by 376 yards in the regular-season finale against the Kansas City Chiefs when the majority of starters were kept out ahead of the playoffs.

– The 2014 team, which was outgained by 371 yards in 27-0 loss at the Indianapolis Colts.

It was fair for head coach Zac Taylor to blame the turnovers for the reason the Bengals lost last week at the Minnesota Vikings 48-10 – the worst margin of defeat in franchise history – but not this time. The Bengals were bad in every phase of the game.

There were several pre-snap penalties, including a delay of game, an illegal formation penalty against right tackle Amarius Mims early in the second quarter that wiped out a 37-yard completion to Tee Higgins, which would have been the longest play of the night, and three special teams penalties.

““It is a lack of discipline,” said Taylor. “As a whole, it’s not nearly good enough. We’re a team that should not be having that problem. We have to get it corrected. We can’t just hand the other team five yards and put us behind the eight ball, especially dealing with some of the stuff we’ve got to deal with on the road. We’ve got to get it cleaned up.”

There were also times the defense had a hard time getting lined up correctly, which both Taylor and defensive back Dax Hill said was due to trying to match Denver’s personnel groups, and while that may be true it looked ugly and disorganized, especially on the final touchdown of the night when running back RJ Harvey slipped out into the left flat uncovered and waltzed into the end zone to complete the 12-yard score.

So how do things get fixed?

The answers weren’t very reassuring after the game.

Sure several players took personal accountability. but none really had a good answer for how to fix things.

“I think anytime you are struggling or not doing well on offense, there’s a lot that goes into it,” said quarterback Jake Browning, who appeared tentative in completing 14 of 25 passes for a scant 125 yards and getting sacked three times, twice when he held the ball too long. “I think for me, my focus is on my role in that which is dropping back, making sure I’m making good decisions and to continue to move the ball forward. There’s a lot that goes into it and I’m focused on my role and trying to be the solution. Finding a way to be more explosive, put up more points, sustain more drives, to be better on third down. Just play better offense in general.”

Just play better offense in general, who knew?

“It’s on us as individuals to do our job no matter who is at quarterback, who’s not out there at left guard, who’s at right guard, who’s not at right guard, all of those different things,” said left tackle Orlando Brown, who is one of the offensive captains. “It’s up to us as individuals to do our part and handle our job, so everybody come together and execute properly.”

Said wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, another offensive captain: “I’ve got to be a leader. I’ve got to be vocal. I’ve got to be confident. I’ve got to be myself. I’ve got to encourage everybody and speak up.”

When asked if he also needs to be hopeful, Chase bristled.

“I don’t want to say hope,” said Chase. “I don’t want to say that word. At the end of the day we’ve got to find out how to make plays and move the ball down the field.”

He was visibly frustrated at times in the second half, even getting into what appeared to be a head conversation with Taylor at one point.

“Just talking about the possession, what plays we run and how we can attack certain coverages,” said Chase, which sounded like code for find a way to get me the ball. “I’m always frustrated if I’m losing, but it’s part of the game. Sometimes your emotions take over. Sometimes it looks like it’s not supposed to. It happens.””

This marked the third time in four games the Bengals finished with less than 200 yards total offense, and one of those came with Joe Burrow still healthy, so there’s more to the offensive issues than just Browning.

“I think as a whole, we all have got to do a better job,” said Taylor. “There’s not a position I’m going to say that can’t step up. Coaching, you’ve got to do a better job. The quarterback is always going to bear a bunch of responsibilities. It’s on all of us to do a better job.”

Then there’s the matter of the defense, which after a solid performance in the season-opening 17-16 win at the Cleveland Browns has regressed to last year’s level when the unit finished 25th in the NFL in yards and points allowed. For the second straight week the unit allowed a 100-yard rusher, and when Denver’s J.K. Dobbins went over the 100-yard mark with a little over six minutes left it marked the first time in the last 38 games the Broncos had a 100-yard rusher. He finished with 101 yards on 16 carries.

The problems are many and the answers for fixing them aren’t very promising.

Taylor tried to put on a brave face in his postgame press conference.

“Our defense in the second half held them scoreless, really until the last drive of the game,” said Taylor. “They did what they could and held them to 21 points against a good team on the road. Offensively, we’re just not creating enough momentum to put points on the board, put pressure on the other team, to get our defense a rest. There are things I know that will be better. We’ll be better as coaches; we’ll be better as players. We’re four games into the season and we’ll create our identity that we can rely on. We can put points on the board, rest defenses, and help our team out. I’ve been here seven years and in the league 13 years; there’s never been a season where we didn’t face adversity at some point. Usually, it’s a lot worse than two-and-two early-season adversity. So, this is nothing. You get a chance to kind of watch more yesterday – games in the league. It feels like every team is going through something with the exception of seven or eight. It’s what teams are going to be able to stick together, find a way, find their identity, find a way to keep improving, build off the positive things we do. I’ve got the utmost confidence in the guys in that locker room as well as the coaching staff.”

To quote Taylor’s predecessor Marvin Lewis, “I see better than I hear.”

What I see is simply a bad football team in a myriad of ways.