To say things aren't great for the Cincinnati Bengals, right now, would be a massive understatement. Coming off a difficult loss in overtime to the Baltimore Ravens, the Bengals are now sitting at 1-4 and would be scheduled to make a top-3 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft if the season ended today.
Quarterback Joe Burrow was as blunt as he could get following the game, saying that the Bengals are not a championship-level team. He reiterated it multiple times during his postgame press conference, and he's right.
As the old saying goes, you are what your record says you are. And right now, the Bengals are not a good football team. Despite watching Burrow go off for nearly 400 passing yards and five touchdowns, Cincy lost, and that's the only number that matters.
Also following the game, Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase was a little more bullish with his opinions. For those who may not have followed, the Bengals turned the Ravens over via fumble, in overtime, and had great field position to work with and potentially go down to close out the game.
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Instead, from the Baltimore 38-yard line, Zac Taylor proceeded to call three-straight run plays with Chase Brown. It netted a total of three yards which would set up the 53-yard field goal attempt from Evan McPherson.
Chase wasn't shy about how he felt regarding the late-game strategy from his head coach:
“I feel like we should have tried at least one play to give it to one our playmakers—me or Tee or Drei (Andrei Iosivas) to try to get a first down. That was what we’d be doing the whole game.”
Tee Higgins also called out the Bengals after their overtime loss in Week 5
Because the Ravens possessed the ball first, a field goal would have won the game for the Bengals. That's where Taylor's head was at, but his players felt differently. Chase was not the only wide receiver who was upset.
Tee Higgins told reporters, after the game, that he also wished the offense was more aggressive in that situation:
“Personally, I thought we should have gone a little more aggressive on the first and second down to get Evan in better field goal range," he said.
The two of them aren't wrong. Look at how the Bengals dominated that Ravens defense in this one, especially through the air. The proof is right there, and Taylor instead went with a conservative approach. It's safe to say that, based on Burrow's performance in this game, the Bengals could have gotten at least another first down while inching closer for McPherson.
Yet, here they are, at 1-4 instead of 2-3. The difference between those two records might be just one game, but by the looks of it, they're very, very different. Here's to hoping Cincy can figure things out in a hurry, now.