Cincinnati Bengals want more out of their offense

Simply put, the Cincinnati Bengals haven’t been very good so far in 2023. Their offense has not been clicking in the way we’re used to seeing. Most of that could be due to Joe Burrow suffering a calf injury during training camp and being constantly hindered by that. The rest of it could be due to a severe talent drop-off after wideout Ja’Marr Chase. At least, that’s what their offensive coordinator might be thinking right now.

After the Bengals win over the Seattle Seahawks, their offensive coordinator had some interesting things to say about their offense. He wasn’t very happy about how his group performed despite the victory and said, “There needs to be more production on offense, in general, for guys not named Ja’Marr Chase. At the end of the day, we’re not scoring enough. We’re not producing enough.” It certainly seems as though Chase is in his good graces, but the remainder of the offense is right under the microscope as they attempt to correct these issues moving forward.

To put it into perspective, the Bengals scored two touchdowns in the game’s first two drives against the Seahawks. They followed that up by having nine drives that went like this: punt, punt, interception, punt, punt, punt, 3-and-field goal, punt, punt, and kneel. That one field goal only happened because their defense already picked up an interception and had them in field goal range. They had five first downs in total throughout those nine drives, and there was never more than one in a single possession. Now, this should tell you all that you need to know about how this group has played lately.

It was also their fourth game scoring under 20 points, while they had just three of these games throughout the entire 2022 campaign. Chase alone had six catches for 80 yards on 13 targets, but the rest of their wideouts and running backs combined for only 147 net yards of offense. While it sounds like their offensive coordinator is being a little harsh, he has every right to focus on the players who aren’t doing what they should be doing. Especially on an offense that consists of Tee Higgins, Joe Mixon, and Tyler Boyd just to name a few.

Brian Callahan, the coordinator, ended his post-game interview by saying, “We have to be better than we’ve been. 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.” To be fair, you have to respect his honesty on the situation because it’s something that a lot of NFL fans are thinking at this point in time. Chase has been great, but Burrow and the rest of the offense have to start consistently creating plays. Otherwise, we might not see this Cincinnati team follow up on their playoff run last year and instead bow out much earlier than anticipated.