Three things the eye test says about the Cincinnati Bengals

NFL teams don’t become 0-6 for any one reason. For the Cincinnati Bengals, turning it around won’t be easy, as the record and eye test do not lie.

It’s easy to pile on the Cincinnati Bengals these days. Little has gone right for Zac Taylor or his locker room. At 0-6 and destined for another bottom division finish and maybe worse, silver linings are in short supply.

The bigger problem is what you see when you watch the Bengals. Put “inside the numbers” aside for a bit, and you notice a team who is not just struggling, but bad on both sides of the football. There is a sameness week to week that shows a team with little complexities that goes along with the gaps in talent.

For fans who want to point to A.J. Green and say that a healthy Green has this team in a different place, I’d remind you it’s not another receiver this team needs as much as it’s offensive linemen, linebackers, and defensive backs. Cincinnati is 0-6 for all the reasons stated above.

Football isn’t sabermetrics. It’s about who has better personnel and who has better coaching. With six games to his credit, it’s way too early to shudder Taylor as a head coach. However, his play-calling lines up with what fans in Cincinnati saw a lot of under Marvin Lewis.

The Bengals have a good shot at a win in Week 7. Jacksonville is a team beatable and Cincinnati could use one of those types of teams right about now. If they don’t finally notch that win this Sunday, it might be a while before they do.