The Cincinnati Bengals enter the bye week having won three of their last four games, but the offense continues to stumble for long stretches.
In Sunday's 17-13 victory over Seattle, the Bengals opened the game with back-to-back touchdowns before flopping the rest of the way. Cincy's next nine possessions went: punt, punt, interception, punt, punt, 3-and-field goal (following an interception), punt, punt, kneel. Joe Burrow and Co. generated a grand total of five first downs on those drives and never more than one a possession.
The Bengals had their fourth game in 2023 with fewer than 20 points scored (2-2 in those games) -- only had three such games in 2022 (0-3 in those games).
Beyond Ja'Marr Chase, the rest of the offense was in a malaise. Chase led the Bengals with 80 yards on six catches (13 targets). The rest of the skill players netted 147 total yards.
On Monday, offensive coordinator Brian Callahan took issue with the performance.
"There needs to be more production on offense, in general, for guys not named Ja'Marr Chase." Callahan said, via Mike Petraglia of CLSN Media. "End of the day, we're not scoring enough. We're not producing enough."
Yet again, the run game was stymied on Sunday, generating 3.1 yards per carry. Burrow also missed a host of throws, and while the calf injury doesn't seem to be curtailing the QB at this point, his play has been uncharacteristically craggy.
In his return after missing Week 5 with a rib injury, Tee Higgins caught just two passes for 20 yards on four targets.
Despite the early-season struggles for Cincy's offense, the Bengals sit at 3-3 in the thick of the AFC playoff hunt. If Burrow and others can get back up to speed following the bye, things will look much brighter in Cincinnati in the coming months.
"We have to be better than we've been," Callahan added. "And I think we will be. But sometimes there's a time and a place to tell the truth. And that's the truth at this point."
