Countless pieces across the Internet have broken down the Cincinnati Bengals' rather poor offensive line play. The unit has been the oft-cited culprit for Joe Burrow's latest injury, and the hapless rushing attack the Bengals have put forward through three games.
All is not completely lost, even if it feels that way in the wake of Cincinnati's 48-10 loss to the Vikings in Minneapolis on Sunday. Nevertheless, one key Bengals starter in the trenches reviewed the footage of what went down against the Vikings, and it wasn't pretty.
Bengals center Ted Karras is often a fun quote because of his animated personality. This latest take from him might be his best to date.
Bengals center Ted Karras 'hated' his Week 3 performance vs. Vikings
Overreacting to one game is commonplace in the NFL. Makes sense in the instant gratification, social media-driven world of today, but it also makes sense in the sense that — am I making sense so far? — there are 365 days in the year, and only 17 guaranteed games for each NFL team.
So is it time to slam the panic button in Cincinnati, or did Ted Karras dig into Week 3's game film and find anything hopeful to cling to? Well, let the man tell you himself...
Ted Karras on watching game film: There’s an old adage that it’s never as good as you thought it was and it’s never as bad as you thought it was. That was pretty bad. I hated my performance. We all feel pretty horrible about that game.
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) September 22, 2025
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of himself, nor the quartet of blockers that surrounds Karras up front. According to PFF, the Bengals rank dead-last in run blocking grade as of now, and eighth-worst in pass protection.
Oof.
The lack of execution on offense for these 2025 Bengals has been staggering to witness. Any data point you dig up paints a pretty ugly portrait of what the bigger picture of the season could look like.
@JoeGoodberry That offense EPA/play chart gets a WHOLE LOT WORSE when you sort by 1st and 2nd down plays only. pic.twitter.com/PYrgHn0nz1
— Medizin (@Medizinnee) September 22, 2025
Head coach Zac Taylor just doesn't seem to have anything up his sleeve as far as adjustments or exotic schemes to bail out any of his players. All the magic that Joe Burrow brings to the gridiron is no longer available, and Jake Browning is stuck behind a suspect offensive line with little to no help from the running game.
This was supposed to be the year Cincinnati put it all together. Burrow finally got through a healthy training camp and got plenty of preseason reps. The defense retooled and added some decent talent. Even the maligned o-line got a rookie third-rounder in Dylan Fairchild and a coveted free agent in Dalton Risner to revamp the guard spots.
Unfortunately, putting the 2-1 overall record to the side for a second, it's getting very late very early in this season for the Bengals to rebound. Karras' assessment of the all-22 film only furthers that assertion.