It doesn't get much better in the booth than ESPN's dynamic duo of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, so it's too bad the four-letter network's A-team didn't get a higher quality game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football.
The Bengals had a full-blown meltdown in prime time, losing 28-3 right on the heels of a 48-10 defeat at Minnesota this past Sunday. That'd be a 76-13 combined score to suck all the momentum out of the first 2-0 start in head coach Zac Taylor's tenure.
Buck and Aikman couldn't believe what they had witnessed as the fourth quarter wound down. It didn't help that they could've witnessed Joe Burrow's greatness. Alas, he was injured, and the lopsided result reflected Joe Brrr's glaring absence.
Joe Buck and Troy Aikman imply Bengals quit in embarrassing loss to Broncos
With a hat tip to Awful Announcing, we've got a healthy clip of anti-Bengals fodder from Buck and Aikman on the other side of the two-minute warning from Monday night's blowout.
Let's lead off first with the notable bits from Buck, who underscored themes of team unity and how the supporting cast let down Burrow's stand-in, Jake Browning:
"If you're Zac Taylor, you're gonna have to find a way to hold this thing together. I mean they've got more penalties than first downs tonight. [...] If you got Jake Browning at quarterback, you cannot play a game like this around him with all the mistakes and expect to compete. And they just frankly, after their first possession, didn't compete."
That's very true. Taylor has his work cut out to keep the locker room together. It'd be a miracle if he pulls it off. While you don't want to spam the panic button with a 2-2 record, that mark feels deceptive. An epic collapse seems imminent based on what we've seen the past couple games.
Aikman chimed in with a great point about how the road doesn't get much easier going forward. In Week 5, the Bengals return home to play the Detroit Lions. They've won three in a row and averaged over 41 points per game in those victories.
"Now they're gonna play this up and have a better outing against Detroit, who's rolling. Good luck with that! This has been an embarrassing effort by the Cincinnati Bengals."
"Embarrassing" is a kind characterization of what unfolded on Monday night. I'm sure Buck and Aikman had to be almost as frustrated as Bengals fans to some degree considering how anticlimactic and lame this ballyhooed matchup turned out in the Mile High City.
Daisy chaining games in a leauge that's so volatile week to week as the NFL is can be an oft-pointless exercise. Nevertheless, the Lions just destroyed the Browns 34-10 in their last outing, whereas Cincinnati, even with Burrow under center, eked out a 17-16 win in Cleveland to start the season 1-0.
Some are calling for Taylor's job. Others believe the Bengals should try to find an upgrade to supplant Browning as the starting QB. Believe I speak for most Who Dey Heads when I say the football fandom equivalent of nihilism sure looks mighty appealing.