Since Joe Burrow joined the Cincinnati Bengals back in 2020, the team\u2019s offense has ascended to being one of the most lethal in the NFL. That\u2019s not to say that criticisms haven\u2019t come to the group over the years, though, with the offensive line being the center of those gripes.<\/p>\n
The embattled unit performed well last year, but another recent facet of the offense has come into focus: their inability to get big plays on early downs.<\/p>\n
That issue hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed by offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher, as evidenced by his recent comments at the 2026 NFL Combine.<\/p>\n
Joe Burrow\u2019s preference has largely been to operate out of spread and\/or shotgun looks, assisting in his ability to process the defense\u2019s pre-snap look. And, while it has been a historical offense in many senses, there have also been instances wherein the plays become a bit predictable.<\/p>\n
The latter issue points to Pitcher\u2019s quote on \u201cmore time under center\u201d. The improved offensive line play last year hoping to carry over in 2026 (a Dalton Risner re-signing would be key) should help in this quest to put themselves into better late-down situations. Chase Brown\u2019s continued development into one of the better backs in the NFL, as well as the possibility of adding even more offensive weapons this spring, could allow the offense to operate more under center and bring more explosiveness on early downs.<\/p>\n
Another element of this approach might be the idea to limit the amount of defensive contact Burrow has received so far in his career. When he\u2019s healthy, Burrow is arguably the top quarterback in the league. However, three major injuries over his six accrued seasons are becoming an unfortunate trend, and they need him to be healthy to fulfill their championship aspirations.<\/p>\n
Cincinnati also faces some formidable defenses in 2026. Aside from the physicality of six games within the AFC North, the Bengals also square off against the Houston Texans, the Kansas City Chiefs, and Lou Anarumo\u2019s Indianapolis Colts, so further embracing further offensive variation will be key to a playoff run.<\/p>\n
Do you think the Bengals should operate more under center this year? What other positions should the star-studded offense look at this offseason to be as versatile as possible?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since Joe Burrow joined the Cincinnati Bengals back in 2020, the team\u2019s offense has ascended to being one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[1561,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-798790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-cincinnati-bengals-news","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116188977872805066","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}