The Bengals will pretend August is September to reach October levels sooner

USA Today

a day ago

There have been two dueling trends that have defined the Cincinnati Bengals since making it to Super Bowl 56 three seasons ago. The first is the explosiveness and excitement of Joe Burrow's offense. The second is Cincinnati's reliance on that efficient passing game to dig itself out of the hole it digs to start the season.
Since 2022, the Bengals are just 4-8 in their first four games of the regular season. They're 28-13 in the games that follow -- a mark that includes a 2-1 playoff record and seven games started by Burrow backup Jake Browning. Cincinnati has started out 1-3 with embarrassing losses along the way, in each of the past two seasons. 2023 was backdrop to a 27-3 stomping at the hands of a six-win Tennessee Titans team. 2024 saw the Bengals allow a four-win New England Patriots team to start its season with a victory in a 16-10 slog.
Each year, Cincinnati finished 9-8. Last winter, a 10th win was the difference between getting Burrow to the playoffs and staying home in January. So, in an effort to prevent this from becoming a full-on trend, head coach Zac Taylor is trying something new. He's gonna press his starters into action early and often this preseason.
'Several series is what we'll give those starters,' Taylor told the press when talking about Thursday's preseason matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles. That means season ticket holders in eastern Pennsylvania, roped into buying seats for meaningless games at full price, will actually get to see something resembling real NFL football for a stretch this August. It's also a departure from Taylor's past.
The Bengals traditionally rested their starters more than other teams when it came to these warm-up games. Burrow threw a single preseason pass between 2021 and 2023. He threw seven passes last preseason, in part because he was adjusting back to game speed after missing the tail end of the season due to a wrist injury. Ja'Marr Chase, coming off a triple crown season in which he led the league in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns, hasn't played a preseason game since 2021 (he had one reception that August). Tee Higgins has appeared in a single preseason game in the same stretch.
Getting that trio on the field is a chance to warm up an offense that averaged 18.9 points per game in those back-to-back 1-3 starts the last two seasons and 23.1 points per game in the weeks that followed when Burrow was healthy. It's also vital for an eternally-in-flux offensive line to get up to speed. Burrow faced one of the NFL's worst pass rushes in Week 1 last fall and was still sacked thrice by the Patriots, who limited his time to throw to 2.54 seconds -- about two-tenths of a second less than his season-long average. In 2023's season opener, the Browns sacked him twice and hit him 10 more times as he gained only 67 net yards on 33 dropbacks.
This has an effect on the run game as well. Cincinnati didn't crack 100 total rushing yards in a 2023 game until after its Week 7 bye. In 2024, the team's running backs gained 144 total yards on the ground (3.8 yards per carry) while going 0-2.
Taylor also had to consider his defense could be a concern once again. Formerly feted coordinator Lou Anarumo was fired after his unit dropped to 27th-best last fall. Trey Hendrickson, responsible for nearly 50 percent of the team's total sacks, remains locked in a contract standoff as he searches for one last massive payday. The team's secondary is loaded with young, high ceiling players who have yet to reach their potential.
Thus, it's important to have a contingency plan. In the Bengals' case, it's ensuring an offense capable of dropping 30-plus points any given matchup is working like a well-oiled machine from Week 1 onward. That comes with the chance of losing one of the highly paid players behind that dynamic offense -- Burrow has already missed at least at least six games due to injury in two of his five NFL seasons so far -- but it at least suggests Taylor is willing to learn from the team's past and proactively address a concern that helped sink his last two years.
Time will tell if it works, but it was clear a change had to be made. Taylor is taking a risk by playing his starters multiple series in the preseason. He was taking a different kind of risk by sitting them and hoping they'd get up to speed quickly in the games that mattered. After two playoff-less seasons in southwestern Ohio, the Bengals are feeling the heat -- and as a result, imploring more of their stars to play in it.