Bengals are wasting an MVP-caliber campaign from Joe Burrow

Heading into the 2024 NFL season, there was some speculation about how Cincinnati Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow would look coming off of the season-ending wrist injury that required surgery that he suffered last season.

Well, through eight games of action, Burrow has eased any concerns and erased any lingering doubts by turning in an MVP-caliber campaign. Heading into Week 9, Burrow is third in the NFL in touchdown passes (15), fourth in completion percentage (70.3) and sixth in passing yards (1,993). He also leads all quarterbacks in QBR (75.4) and EPA (54.1).

Despite Burrow's stellar, productive play, the Bengals sit at just 3-5 through eight weeks, and it certainly appears that they're about to waste his hardware-worthy season due to issues with the defense, running game and play-calling.

Burrow's stellar play hasn't been enough to save the Bengals this season

The Bengals have had an abysmal ground game so far this season. They're in the bottom-six in the league in both total rushing yards and rushing yards per game, and they're also right near the bottom in rushing attempts per performance with 22.1. It simply hasn't been a priority for the team to establish a potent rushing attack, and it has come back to bite them. The duo of Chase Brown and Zack Moss simply hasn't gotten the job done. Meanwhile, former Bengals back Joe Mixon is thriving in Houston with the Texans.

Burrow's frustration with Cincinnati's ground game, or lack thereof, reached a boiling point after the team's 37-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 8. At the postgame podium, Burrow stressed the need for better backfield production.

"After the first game, we ran it well for a couple weeks in a row there. The last couple of weeks haven't been good enough," Burrow said. "When you play good rushers like we have the last several weeks, you've got to keep them off balance and be able to run the ball.

"If you don't, then they aren't going to be quite as worried about it and then their edge guys are going to start getting push and play action isn't going to be as good. So, you've got to drop back and make plays, and that's what those kind of teams want. So, it's tough when you can't."

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Burrow isn't the type to publicly call out his teammates, the coaching staff or the front office, so this is about as direct as he's going to get. You can tell that the issue is bothering him, not because it might prevent him from winning an MVP, but because it might prevent the Bengals from securing a playoff berth.

The defense has been equally concerning for Cincinnati, as the unit has been subpar in all areas. Cincinnati's defense is in the bottom third in rushing yards allowed, passing yards allowed and points allowed per performance.

There really isn't even an area that the defense can hang its hat on and say, "Hey, at least we're doing a good job in this area." There has been no such bring spot. Instead, improvement is needed all around.

Then, there's the play-calling, which has produced some head-scratching decisions over the course of the campaign, like throwing a screen pass on a 4th-and-1 from your own 39 yard line, like they did, unsuccessfully, against the Eagles. Not placing more emphasis on the ground game also stems from the play-calling. As a result, Cincinnati's offense has become too predictable and one-dimensional.

Burrow is excellent, but at the end of the day, he can only do so much. He's being hamstrung by the team's other deficiencies, and unless they can make some major changes quickly, those issues will keep Burrow out of the MVP conversation -- and the Bengals out of the playoff picture.