The Bengals offensive line was one of the worst in the NFL…again.
On paper, this was the best offensive line Frank Pollack had in his five seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals.
“It doesn’t mean crap if we don’t go out there and do it,” Pollack said before the season began. “All that matters is where we are at the end of the year.”
Where the Bengals’ offensive line was heading into Saturday evening’s season finale in Pittsburgh was near the very bottom of the NFL. In fact, Pro Football Focus had it rated as the third worst in the NFL. And it wasn’t just the usual suspects.
Right guard Alex Cappa, who Cincinnati brought over in free agency to help shore up the interior of the line, has done anything but. In the victory over the Denver Broncos, Cappa allowed six pressures, including two sacks, and earned a 10.1 PFF pass-blocking grade, which was the lowest among all offensive linemen in Week 17. His overall pass-blocking mark of 39.7, which is near the bottom of the scale and considered “replaceable.” In fact, Cappa was rated 108 out of 132 eligible guards.
And then there is Cordell Volson, who generally mans the right guard position. Volson earned a pass-blocking score of 49.4 (replaceable) and came in at No. 94.
The best pass-blocking grade on the line belongs to center Ted Karras, who comes in with a PFF score of 78 and received the only “starter” grade awarded to any of the Bengals’ front five. That mark puts Karras among the top six of all centers in the league.
The next-best pass-blocking grade belongs to left tackle Orlando Brown, Jr., who managed a 69.5 score. That mark is good for a border-line starter and places Brown at No. 52 among 139 eligible tackles. Next up is rookie right tackle Amarius Mims, whose score of 60.8 is good enough for backup status and puts him at No. 83.
The grades are in, and it just wasn’t good enough. Sure, quarterback Joe Burrow had the best season of his young career, but he was also sacked 48 times, including seven times in the victory over the Broncos. He was sacked four times in the season final against the Steelers.
Instead of finishing as the best of Pollack’s efforts, this group was the worst. Last year, Cincinnati’s line was rated at No. 26, and the 2022 version finished at No. 28. During the Bengals’ Super Bowl run of 2021, Cincinnati’s offensive line checked in at No. 20. In Pollack’s initial season of 2018, the Bengals’ line was rated No. 27.
No matter how you cut it, the Pollack experiment has been a failure. It’s well past time to make a change. And that change starts at the top. Pollack has been given every chance to succeed, and it just has not happened. In his own words, “It doesn’t mean crap.” It’s time to move on.
