Joe Burrow and the Bengals Aren’t Done Yet

Think the outlook is bleak for the 1-4 Bengals? Go back to 1970. Cincinnati started out 1-6 and had to ride with a journeyman backup QB named Virgil Carter. What do they do? Offensive coordinator Bill Walsh invented the West Coast offense because Carter had no arm strength. That team changed the trajectory of modern football: They won out and made the playoffs at 8-6.

Current Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor is no Bill Walsh — but he doesn’t have to be. He has Joe Burrow. This group can do one better than the ’70 team. Burrow and the Bengals still have a real chance to make the playoffs. And once they get to the playoffs, they are a bona fide Super Bowl threat no matter what happened during the regular season.

Since the 1970 merger, 15 teams have started 1-4 and made the postseason. But no team with this record had the pedigree or talent level of the Bengals. The Bill Parcells quote – you are what your record says you are – doesn’t apply to this team. They outplayed Kansas City and Baltimore, the two best teams in the NFL according to betting odds. They had the Chiefs down 25-23 with 36 seconds left at fourth-and-16 before a pass interference penalty gave Patrick Mahomes life. Then they botched the snap-and-hold of what should have been a game-winning field goal against Baltimore last Sunday.

Don’t panic Bengals fans. Here are five reasons Super Bowl dreams are still alive....

1. Slow starts haven’t hurt them

There’s no excuse for losing Week 1 to the Pats ... except that the Bengals always drop their first two games. In his six seasons at the helm, Taylor is 1-11 through the first two weeks of the season and Burrow has started out 0-2 four out of five seasons. It’s made no difference.

Last offseason was affected by contract issues with receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and Burrow recovering from his wrist issue. We knew they would be rusty against New England. Since then, Cincinnati has picked up its level of play dramatically.

Hovering around .500 at midseason doesn’t scare this team. In 2021, they were 7-6 and went to the Super Bowl. In ’22, they started out 4-4 and won their next eight games en route to the AFC title game. Even last season they had a second-half run, improving from 5-6 with backup QB Jake Browning to 8-6 before faltering late.

2. The schedule

By the time the Bengals see the Ravens again in Week 10, they could easily be over .500. Cincy has upcoming trips to the Giants and Browns, then home games against the Eagles and Raiders. Outside of divisional games, they play only one team that currently has a winning record the rest of the season (Dallas). They have the seventh-easiest remaining strength of schedule.

3. Don’t bet against Joe Burrow

If the Bengals had a better record, Burrow would be a strong MVP candidate. He could be a smart longshot bet at 22-to-1 on FanDuel. Burrow has completed 73.2% of his passes for 1,370 yards, an NFL-best 12 TDs, two INTs and a 113.6 passer rating (second-best in the league, behind Joe Flacco ). And that’s with Chase rounding into shape and Higgins missing the first two games with a hamstring injury.

One of the biggest concerns coming into the season was Burrow’s wrist. Despite their record, his health has been encouraging. Burrow appears to be headed toward his best season. Burrow needs to be nearly perfect for the Bengals to make this turnaround. He threw a late interception against the Ravens, but after the game, Chase admitted he was at fault for running a weak route. That’s a lot of pressure but he is one of a handful of quarterbacks that might just be able to pull it off.

4. Defense will get better

Painting an optimistic picture of the Bengals’ defense is tougher, but not impossible. True, they can’t rush the passer and their secondary, which is already bad, is banged up. Here’s the silver lining: Washington and Baltimore, who dropped 38 and 41 points on them respectively, are the No. 1 and No. 2 scoring offenses in the NFL. Other than the Ravens rematch, they won’t see another top 10 offense the rest of the season. The most potent opponent left on the schedule is Dallas, which ranks 14 ^th in scoring.

The next four quarterbacks they face are Daniel Jones, Deshaun Watson, a struggling Jalen Hurts and whoever the Raiders start. Later in the season, they’ll see Will Levis and Justin Fields/Russell Wilson.

The defensive personnel is flawed but that’s where defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo comes in. He’s been searching for answers all season and coming up empty. But Anarumo has had such highs in his career, it’s impossible to imagine he can’t find a scheme to improve incrementally. Anarumo has stymied Patrick Mahomes ... he should be able to slow down this list of mediocre QBs.

5. The AFC is wide open

If the playoffs started today, the three AFC wild card teams would be the Steelers (3-2), Broncos (3-2) and Chargers (2-2). The Bengals face each of those teams head to head and have a great chance of catching them. Other potential playoff teams are struggling ... the Dolphins, Jets and Browns are in disarray.

The best thing that could happen to Cincy is K.C. and Baltimore going on dominant runs and adding L’s to the teams vying for wild-card spots. Two seasons ago, the Dolphins snuck in at 9-8 ... an attainable mark for the Bengals this season. They were 10-7 before their last Super Bowl run and will have plenty of confidence against any opponent in January.

*****

The Bengals will be under the spotlight on Sunday night this week against the Giants. As dire as this start feels, fans should look to history for comfort. Not just their recent ability to overcome slow starts with Burrow. For true inspiration, look at what Walsh did 54 years ago. Maybe Burrow and Co. will shock everyone and make their own mark on NFL history.

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