The Cincinnati Bengals have one of the more talented rosters in the league, but don’t always play like it. In spite of an offense that could claim to be the best in the NFL, they have been too slow out of the gates through much of Joe Burrow’s career.
Consider this: the Bengals have started 1-3 or 2-3 (or 1-3-1) in all but one season since they drafted Burrow in 2020. Slow starts have increasingly become an issue, particularly last season. They lost their first three games and three out of four. With that kind of hole, they couldn’t make up for a midseason slide, where even a five-game win streak to end the year barely dragged them above .500, outside of the playoffs.
The Bengals are fully aware of this and know that it has to change, according to Paul Dehner Jr. He writes for The Athletic that “Changes will be coming to how the Bengals prepare for the season. Fixing the slow starts was on the mind of every Cincinnati coach and staff member roaming the halls”.
For example, he cites new DC Al Golden, who wants to make fuller use of OTAs than HC Zac Taylor has previously, especially important as he installs a new defense. Still, the bigger picture is the structure and intensity of training camp, which under Taylor has been lighter.
The Bengals, Dehner writes, “don’t want to take away the energy and late-season success of recent teams, but an admission the approach hasn’t worked as a whole due to slow starts was unanimous”. To that end, they intend to increase the amount of tackling they do in training camp and play their starters more in the preseason.
One issue in some of the Bengals’ slow starts has been bad luck, of course. Specifically, Joe Burrow has had some health misfortunes that have contributed to subpar play. He was overcoming season-ending injuries to start his second and most recent seasons. In between, he had an appendix issue and a calf injury.
As far as the 2024 season goes, the Bengals began the season 1-4. While that included a loss to the New England Patriots, their other losses came to the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, and Washington Commanders. Of course, a team with championship aspirations should be winning a couple of those games no matter what the month.
Zac Taylor comes from the Sean McVay coaching tree, and he has tried to emulate some of what he learned under him since taking over the Bengals. A lot of that has had to do with how the offseason is structured, particularly training camp. But the Rams have started the past three seasons 2-3 or worse, so perhaps it’s time to adapt. And adapt in other ways, as well.
