I think we know the answer.
On Sunday afternoon, Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals offense scored 38 points in regulation. They did more than enough to win.
They didn’t win, though. Lou Anarumo’s defense sold out to stop Derrick Henry, and for the most part, they did. Before his 51-yard carry in overtime, he only averaged 2.9 yards per carry. That’s a job well done.
But then they let Lamar Jackson throw for 348 yards and four touchdowns. They were able to get a little pressure, but for the most part he sat in the pocket and picked apart a secondary missing two starting corners.
Occasionally, Lou sent extra rushers and some passes were over or underthrown, but when he rushed four, it wasn’t enough.
In the second half, the Bengals defense wasn’t even able to force the Ravens into a third-down play until four minutes were off the clock in the fourth quarter.
So is it Lou’s fault?
Nah, not really. He’s been asked to play poker without any face cards. Good luck getting four of a kind.
In overtime, the football gods saw fit to bestow upon the Bengals a mighty gift: a Lamar Jackson fumbled snap that Germaine Pratt scooped up within field goal range. The Bengals only needed three points to win.
What happened next upset the football gods so terribly, they punished Ryan Rehkow when he went to place the snap on the turf for Evan McPherson’s kick.
Taylor just ran the ball up the middle three times, crashing into the brick wall that was the Ravens run defense all day long. The Bengals gained three yards on those three carries (all in one play), and then when Rehkow dropped the ball as he went to place it, McPherson’s foot struck it off center, sending it wide left.
Just a few plays later, the game was over.
So is it Taylor’s fault?
A little, maybe. He should have been more aggressive in OT, but I’m sure had Burrow thrown his second pick, we’d all be asking why he didn’t run the ball and let McPherson kick. He’s playing poker without any aces. Easier to win since he has a loaded offense, but still, pretty tough.
That leaves one place. The front office.
The Bengals went to the Super Bowl in 2021, and I think it’s safe to say they were ahead of schedule. Burrow led a team with a patchwork offensive line and still only lost by three. I think it’s clear to see now that a lot of that has to do with who Anarumo had on his depth chart.
He had Bates and Vonn Bell, who had formed a psychic link when they were on the field together. He had DJ Reader in the middle of the defensive line, acting as a boulder, keeping Logan Wilson and Pratt free to make plays. He had Chidobe Awuzie at corner.
Bates left. Bell left. Awuzie left. Reader left.
The Bates one is obviously the loss that hurts the most. He has done nothing short of dominate the secondary for the Falcons and he was only 25 years old when he left. Awuzie was a few years older and was coming off a season-ending injury. I get it.
So they decided to let Bates walk, and they tell us it’s because they have to pay Burrow and they have to pay Higgins and they have to pay Chase.
And they did pay Burrow, and they paid him a lot.
But they didn’t pay Higgins, and they still haven’t paid Chase. They didn’t spend a ton of money to extend Hendrickson, because he demanded a trade when he and his agent realized they got a raw deal.
So, the Bengals offense, which is absolutely one of the best in the league, put up 38 points in regulation, and Taylor and Anarumo were asked to coach a defense, banged up with injuries, and after they’ve lost so much great talent since the Super Bowl run, against an equally good Ravens offense.
So is it the front office’s fault?
Mostly, yes.
Now what we don’t get to do is yell about how Mike Brown is the same as ever and he needs to retire out of one side of our mouths, while praising Katie Blackburn out of the other side.
Some things have changed, yes. The Ring of Honor is great. The gameday experience is better. They won some postseason games for crying out loud.
But if those changes don’t pay off big in the form of Lombardi Trophies, or at least winning when Burrow throws five touchdown passes, then what are we talking about? Lipstick on a pig is what we’re talking about.
So this is equally on Brown and Blackburn. If the franchise is serious about showing the rest of the league, and their fanbase, they’ve changed, then they need to keep guys they draft, who are obvious superstars in stripes. Don’t let this team lose another Bates. Learn from this misstep and don’t let it happen again.
It may be too late to fix it this season, but it’s not too late to not let down the future Bengals fans who are growing up listening to their mothers and fathers tell the cautionary tale of Andrew Luck.
There’s not much left to say.
And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass
of what was everything
All the pictures had all been washing in black
Tattooed everything
All the love gone bad, turned my world to black
Tattooed all I see
all that I am
All I’ll be
