Bengals coach Zac Taylor press conference after win over Cardinals
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor speaks to the media following a win over the Cardinals on Dec. 28.
The Cincinnati Bengals blew out a bad team for the second straight week.
They were having so much fun in Sunday’s 37-14 win against Arizona, in fact, the Bengals were throwing passes to offensive linemen. Props to coach Zac Taylor for keeping the locker room united, despite being thrown to the wolves by his own front office and told to answer for a subpar roster and lost season.
OK, then. ’Tis the season to pause for a reality check.
The Bengals still only have one win against a team that has clinched a playoff berth entering the final weekend of the regular season. That win came in Week 2, when Joe Burrow suffered a toe injury and the Bengals somehow survived three interceptions by backup quarterback Jake Browning to defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It’s important to keep that perspective, as Burrow and the offense hummed along against god-awful Arizona at Paycor Stadium. The front office wants everyone seeing and believing that these last few weeks is how all season would’ve gone had Burrow been healthy and a couple of defensive players figured things out a little sooner.
Big picture, folks. Remember, it was just two weeks ago – in the wake of an ugly 24-0 home loss to Baltimore that should’ve at least warranted a pink slip for roster architect Duke Tobin – when Burrow called the Bengals a “bad” team. Bad teams don’t suddenly become good teams simply because they beat up on a couple teams playing out the string.
I’m not here to ruin the holiday cheer. Looks like thousands of fans had a jolly good time on an unseasonably warm day watching Burrow toss the ball all over the field. He even connected with 350-pound offensive lineman Cody Ford for a 21-yard reception. What a blast it was watching the big fella rumble down the sideline to set up first-and-goal.
Bengals players were overheard chanting “Cody! Cody! Cody!” in the locker room after the game. Ford’s first (and probably last) career reception came on his 29th birthday, although Taylor wasn’t aware of that when he inserted the play in the playbook last week to “keep the energy sky high” among the offensive linemen.
“He was breaking tackles,” Taylor said, smiling. “That was pretty impressive.”
Such a moment should remind fans that it’s OK to have fun, responsibly drink a few Miller Lites and be happy for the players and Taylor. It’s also OK not to get caught up in the moment of easy wins against Arizona and Miami.
Here’s where it’s reality-check time.
Too bad the defense played so horribly for most of the season or else maybe we could’ve been treated to more garbage-time passes to offensive linemen. The Bengals could’ve already clinched a playoff berth, been resting their starters in these final few games and called more unorthodox plays. How fun would it be watching 6-8, 350-pound offensive tackles Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims carrying the ball in the open field?
Snap back to reality. Be mindful that the Bengals ownership and front office wants fans – and taxpayers – to forget about losses to the Vikings, Jets, Bears, Patriots, Bills, Ravens, etc. They want fans to get caught up in the excitement of passes to Cody Ford. They want us to see the last two weeks as the real Bengals.
Arizona is 3-13 and hasn’t won a game in almost two months. It has a bottom 10 defense in the league. The Cardinals start career backup Jacoby Brissett. Last week’s 24-point road win was against the playoff-eliminated Dolphins and rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers, who was making his first career start.
Yeah, this is broken record stuff. But around here, fans and the taxpayers who continue to pour tens of millions into the Bengals’ stadium fund have to be constantly reminded to not get caught up in how the front office and, frankly, some local media folks view a couple of no-stakes, blowout wins.
The positive spin already started after the Miami game from some factions of the media. No one should buy that these last few games are the real Bengals and that this is how they’d have looked all season had Burrow not missed nine games. No one should buy that all those defensive draft picks who were trending toward busts just a few weeks ago are suddenly NFL-caliber starters and ready to breakout in 2026.
Fact is, blowout wins or losses in these final weeks should mean nothing for the direction of the franchise.
The defense needs an overhaul!
Write it down. Tweet it. Put it on a t-shirt. Whatever. Nothing that’s happened recently should change that. The Bengals are 6-10 and missing the playoffs for the third straight season because they can’t draft and develop good defensive players.
Sure, it’s important for the coaches to use these final few games to evaluate certain individual players moving forward. For example, is 2023 first-round draft pick Myles Murphy finally becoming a consistent performer at defensive end? Objectively, he seems to be trending in a positive direction down the stretch, but that question should remain unanswered entering the season finale against Cleveland and then into the offseason.
No one should be ready to anoint Murphy a success and a lock for a starting job in 2026 after 2½ seasons of being a non-factor.
No one’s job on the defensive side of the ball should be safe except cornerback DJ Turner. He has been the only starting defensive player who’s performed consistently well all season long. Yes, that includes against the good and bad teams.
So, enjoy passes to linemen. Enjoy watching a healthy Burrow sling it. And enjoy the blowouts. But don’t let the recent fun be a distraction from holding owner Mike Brown and Tobin, the player personnel director, accountable for fixing what remains a flawed roster.
Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com