Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is generally a pretty solid guy, right? He has coached with one arm tied behind his back for much of his tenure, but that's offset to some degree by the Bengals' power trio on offense of Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
There is still a chance that neither Chase nor Higgins will play in Week 5 in Miami against the Dolphins. Could that mean Taylor puts more of an emphasis on the running game to try to get Chase Brown back on track after he had just 10 yards on nine carries in a 22-17 loss to the Jaguars?
The answer to that question: I wouldn't hold my breath on such a thing happening. And therein lies Taylor's biggest flaw.
Advanced data highlights how unimaginative Taylor and the Bengals offensive staff are
Look, there's a fine line between getting too cute and being so vanilla that you accidentally sabotage your best players. The Bengals can get away with basic schematics, because Burrow, Chase, and Higgins can execute at such a ridiculous clip.
You know, when they're all healthy and on the field together, which is exceedingly rare.
Big props to CBS' Ben Fennell for this mic-drop data set that underscores the major issue besieging Cincinnati's offense in perpetuity:
Called Run Rate
— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) October 5, 2026
🔸31. CIN 31.3%
Run Action Rate (Run + Play Action)
🔸32. CIN 43.4%
Motion at Snap %
🔸32. CIN 25.1%
...you better have an f'n assassin and magician at QB AND nearly every OL spot to survive this way, IMO.
Those numbers alone are enough for me to call Taylor's job security into question.
I have been calling on the Bengals to diversify their running game for literal years. Did so on this site last season, during the offseason, and so on.
When your run playbook basically consists of a draw package, inside zone, power, duo, and, if we're getting CRAZY, split flow inside zone...you're probably not maximizing your system. It's just not robust enough to sustain winning, or bleed the clock out with optimal efficacy in the event that you're sitting on a late lead.
Many Super Bowl-caliber teams can run the ball when they want to, even when the opponent knows it's coming. That has never been the case for the Burrow-led Bengals.
Taylor, offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher, and whomever else just do not design enough exotic plays. They stick to what they do well and what they've always known. Even this year's supposed pivot to more under-center plays has led to such a predictable run-pass split that the initiative is all but being abandoned through four games.
The Bengals do not put any horizontal stress on a defense. They drop Burrow straight back, put their solid offensive line in bad spots, and Joe Shiesty gets absolutely crushed in the pocket, no matter how fast he is to deliver the ball.
This zero-margin-for-error approach, where Cincinnati leans on the face of the franchise to bail them out for frankly lazy game planning, is not a championship mindset.
And I acknowledge that Burrow has a hand in this himself. He resisted going under center in years past because he didn't like to have his back to the defense. Although he walked back his post-Week 4 remarks about wanting to simply throw it more if the run game wasn't up to snuff, Burrow should be proactively part of the solution to make this scheme more multiple and stressful for opponents.
The Week 6 bye should be a good reset. I just hope the Bengals don't run all over the Dolphins in Miami, think their problems are solved, only to become even more lackadaisical about doing anything about it before Week 7's road trip to Baltimore.
So yeah, Zac. If you're not in full Henry Winkler Coach Klein Waterboy "I don't know where I am" mode when you're concocting new running plays on the week off, what are you even doing with your time?
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