The Cincinnati Bengals just haven’t had the offensive output necessary to win games in 2020 — with Joe Burrow under center or not.
While there have been some gaudy passing numbers at times, the team converting just 36.2 percent of its season-long attempts on third downs says it all.
And so does something else that occurred last week in the loss to New York. There, the Bengals tallied 53 more return yards than offensive yards, as the Brandon Allen-led attack could only muster 155 total yards on the day.
That made for the second time this season Zac Taylor’s offense has had more yardage on returns than total offensive yardage.
It’s a staggering feat that hasn’t happened often in team history, let alone often across the league.
And yes, some of this happened because Brandon Wilson had a historic kickoff return for a touchdown last week. The other occurrence, the Week 5 loss to Baltimore, saw Burrow make plenty of rookie mistakes against an elite defense.
But as Taylor would probably attest, posting 94 offensive yards against Baltimore and 155 against New York isn’t acceptable regardless of circumstances. Neither is going six of 36 on third downs over the three games after the bye week.
And the arrow points directly at Taylor for those sorts of miscues, of course. He’s the former Sean McVay understudy and offensive guru calling the shots. Burrow out or not, he’s the one under the microscope over these final five games because while he doesn’t have Burrow under center anymore, the team can’t be historically brutal-looking to the point special teams is recording more yardage, either.
