CINCINNATI (WKRC) – It was certainly nice that Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and quarterback Jake Browning took accountability for their performance in Sunday’s ugly 37-24 loss to the Detroit Lions, they aren’t the only problems and perhaps they found a start toward a solution in the fourth quarter.
The Bengals broke a 19 series touchdown less streak with touchdowns on three straight fourth quarter possessions, but it was far too little and far too late after they fell behind 28-3 through the first three quarters, which left them having been outscored 104-16 in 11 quarters since the start of game three of the season at the Minnesota Vikings.
“Put this on me,” Taylor said in his postgame press conference. “I’ve got to do a better job getting us into a rhythm, getting us to where we can sustain some drives and put points on the board. There’s some plays that (Browning is) going to want to have back. I’m glad he hung in there. He made some plays for us down the stretch — three straight touchdown drives at the end of the game. I’m sure a lot of people wanted him on the bench at that point. I could hear it. We stuck with him and he comes back and has three straight drives for touchdowns, and that’s the Jake Browning I know. He’s resilient, has served adversity in the face, and you can count on him to keep bouncing back. Obviously, you’ve got to protect the ball better to beat a team of that caliber, so we’re not going to run from that, but to sit here and say I’m not proud of our football team for the way that they fought back, that wouldn’t be true. I’m extremely proud of these guys, the way they continue to fight in the face of adversity when it looks real dim, and all of a sudden there’s some hope there that we can get this thing done, and that’s what this team is made of. Five games in, that’s what I’m counting on to get us through this, the last 12 games, where we can go win some games. I’m not oblivious to what goes on in the AFC and our division. There’s going to be plenty of opportunity there if we can stick through this storm and stick together and find a way to put us in some better positions on offense together and score some points. I’m absolutely confident that we will get this thing turned around and fans will want to be in the stands, because I get it right now. They’re going to want to be in the stands and I look forward to sold out crowds again — back to what we’re used to. I promise you with every breath I got, we’re going to continue to work to get back to that.”
That sounds noble, and needed to be said, but the Bengals haven’t score a touchdown in the first half of any of the last three games, and while some of that can be pinned on Browning, it needs to be pinned on Taylor, who simply needs to be a better play-caller and offensive schemer than he has been since Joe Burrow suffered his turf toe injury against Jacksonville.
“I’ve got to be better for this football team,” said Taylor. “It just hasn’t been good enough. I put that on myself, and we’ve got to get that fixed. I’m confident that we’re going to get it fixed. It’s disappointing and frustrating that again that we’ve scored three points three weeks in a row in the first half. You’re not going to win against these teams we’ve been playing against when you do that. So, that’s my responsibility to get that fixed and find a way to score some more points and getting that done.”
Browning’s performance hasn’t helped, and didn’t help in the first three quarters of Sunday’s game, but a perfect storm of bad play call and poor execution came on the first play of the second quarter with the Bengals on their own 3 following a Detroit punt.
Taylor called for an out route to wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase to the left, but Browning woefully underthrew the pass and Detroit cornerback Amik Robertson intercepted on the Bengals 17. Five plays later Detroit took a 14-0 lead.
Sure, it’s understandable that Taylor doesn’t trust the run game, which generated all of 85 yards, 54 of which came from running backs, but the play call put Browning in a tough sport and Browning’s poor throw made it worse.
“I felt like the guy had outside leverage on Ja’Marr, so I tried to throw it inside to where his leverage would be and have Ja’Marr beat his leverage, but he got undercut and he got the pick,” said Browning. “Bad decision. Bad ball placement.”
It sure was, but so was the decision to call such a tough throw in a 7-0 game where the Bengals were backed up near their own goal line.
“I call the plays. I’ve got to keep us out of danger,” said Taylor. “There’s some things I’ve got to do a better job establishing. When the offense doesn’t score points — when the head coach is the play caller, that’s where it ends right there.”
There were two ugly interceptions Browning threw, one in the second quarter when he tried a 50-50 deep ball to Chase down the right sideline that he underthrew, and another on the opening possession of the second half when he threw a pass right to Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone.
“I think most of mine were trying to force plays,” said Browning. “You know, frustration … wanting to push the ball down the field, and I’ve got to pick my spots better. I threw three picks that were just bad and there’s no hiding from that. It was just bad football from me. Just trying to force stuff. Trying to force things that aren’t there and as a result just completely screwing over the team. It hurts, but there’s no way to hide from it. It hurts. I did not play well enough to give us a chance to win. It’s just brutal.”
Taylor continued to give his support to Browning moving forward.
“I believe in him,” said Taylor. “I saw the turnovers that were happening. We’ve got to be better. We can’t excuse him. What we saw with those three straight touchdown drives (in the fourth quarter), he gave us our best chance there. Of course, after a game like that we’re going to look at all personnel to make sure we’re doing the right thing. I won’t shy away from that, because it’s a very fair question after the amount of turnovers we had. To say Jake can’t win games for us, I believe Jake can win games for us. I do. We’ll just continue to look at everything we can personnel-wise.”
The defense didn’t play well enough either, even though they forced a big turnover early in the game and forced arguably the best offense in football to punt five times.
The unit allowed a touchdown drive that looked all too easy on the opening possession of the game, and then after the Bengals cut the deficit to 28-17 with still 10:22 left in the game, allowed the Lions to drive 68 yards in eight plays to pull ahead 35-17.
At 28-3 it seemed so demoralizing that the rest of the season looked totally bleak, and it may be, but then came the fourth quarter.
The Bengals scored touchdowns on three straight drives and looked like they had a pulse.
Sure, it was garbage time, and sure human nature is the Lions had a letdown, but the alternative is the Bengals could have quit and there would be little to no hope for the rest of the season, which perhaps for many fans is where that is already and it’s understandable.
It’s something the Bengals are hanging their hat on moving forward.
“While I appreciate the heart and we’re sticking together, I don’t like that,”said Taylor. “That’s not what the NFL is about. The NFL is about winning games and moving on to the next one and creating momentum for yourself. We’re allowed to create momentum at different parts of the season. It hasn’t been these last three weeks. We have to start now. I believe in these guys. That’s what I just told them. If I’m betting on this team to find a way at 2-3, five games in, to find a way to be in contention for everything that we wanted to do, there’s a lot of football left and I believe we’re going to get it done.”