Bengals players frustrated with conservative play-calling
When Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor broke down quarterback Joe Burrow's three consecutive interceptions in Sunday's loss to the Chicago Bears, he had technical, schematic explanations for the first two.
But for Burrow's third pick, the Bengals offensive line simply got beat. Badly.
Running back Joe Mixon whiffed on his pass protection assignment. Four Bengals offensive linemen were blocking two Bears pass rushers, and the rest were unguarded. Burrow was hit as he threw.
In one play, the Bengals showed why they played conservatively on offense for most of the game.
“We just got beat up front,” Bengals wide receiver Ja'marr Chase said. “What else can I say? They took advantage of their D-line.”
Aside from the final score, the two numbers that mattered the most Sunday were the four sacks and the nine quarterback hits Burrow took in the 20-17 loss.
“They had a good pass rush,” Burrow said. “We tried to get (the ball) out quick, and they knew they had a good pass rush and we were going to get it out quick. They just started sitting on all of our routes.”
In other words, because Cincinnati wasn't stretching the field with the deep ball, the Bears had a good idea of what to expect, and with Chicago “sitting” on the Bengals wide receivers' routes, they held
Cincinnati to 85 yards in the first half.
Chase said the Bengals should have been more aggressive in stretching the field as the Bears took a 20-3 lead.
“We could've been (doing) that bro, honestly,” Chase said. “We waited (until the) last-minute to take shots. We knew they were sitting the whole game. I was telling Joe. Tee knew. We've got to capitalize on the stuff we see early in the game.”
Next week, the Bengals' offensive line faces an even better pass rush in the Pittsburgh Steelers.
According to Burrow, it's clear what the Bengals need to do differently.
“You've got to throw the ball over their head,” Burrow said. “At least make them feel like you are going to be able to do that and call some plays that go over their head. … We'll have to watch the film and reflect.”