The Bengals are here.
The combination of second year quarterback Joe Burrow, first year wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and a host of playmakers on offense and defense have the Bengals in the AFC Championship game just months after they held the fifth pick in the 2021 NFL Draft — which they used on Chase.
The fact that the Bengals were able to turn this around so quickly is astounding. What’s even more impressive, to me, is how they’ve been able to see this vision out largely on the strength of their players.
This version of the Bengals team, as they continue to grow into whatever vision Zac Taylor has for the offense, simply has better players than what most teams run into.
And it’s given them a chance to knock off the kings at the top of the AFC in Kansas City.
Burrow and Chase are no strangers to this Chiefs’ defense. The last time they played, they just carved right through the unit. Burrow had 449 yards and four touchdowns, with 266 of those yards and three of those touchdowns landing in the gifted arms of Chase.
The Chiefs showed exactly why playing this Bengals’ offense is so tough: they have the talent to make you pay when you’re not perfect on defense — in catastrophic ways.
Let’s take one of Chase’s three touchdowns from their first game against the Chiefs. This was a poor play by the Chiefs, particularly by veteran safety Daniel Sorensen.
Sorensen ends up behind Chase before the ball is even caught and by then it’s already too late. Chase is too fast and too explosive to be caught from behind on these plays.
It’s not a particularly complicated concept from the Bengals either. The inside receiver runs an out route, Chase runs vertical on a go route. This is likely a trap coverage from the Chiefs because the cornerback jumps the out route as soon as the receiver breaks towards the sideline. That means Sorensen needs to be way deeper than he originally plays this.
He’s not. And it cost the Chiefs a touchdown because Chase is simply not a player you can give open grass to.
Even when Chiefs defenders were in position to make a play, they struggled to slow down the explosive Bengals offense.
Funny enough, this is a similar concept that the Bengals ran the first time, except Chase is running the out route. He explodes past the Chiefs’ defense en route to the endzone after catching the ball, even juking a defender along the way.
These are the problems that great players present. They have him close to rounded up when Chase catches the ball, but Chase is just a better player and athlete than everyone else on the field trying to tackle him.
Simple offense: get the ball to your best players. It’s worked well for them and they aren’t doing a whole lot of complicated things to get the ball in space to electric playmakers.
Where the Bengals have an Achilles heel is their offensive line. As good as their skill players are, the playcalling doesn’t help out an offensive line that’s among the worst in the league. Even though they were getting pummeled up front against the Titans, with right guard Hakeem Adeniji and right tackle Isaiah Prince specifically getting roasted the entire game, they stayed in 5-man protections and put the onus on Burrow and Chase to make plays.
Here come Chris Jones and Melvin Ingram, who just made life difficult for the right side of the Bills offensive line. The matchup isn’t getting easier this week and they might need a bit more help from the coaching staff to get past this pass rush duo that can take advantage of their weaknesses up front.
Still, the Bengals shouldn’t deviant from what go them here. Take the great acronym K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid), do what you’ve done that has gotten you here and try to get to the Super Bowl.
Then? Spend the entire offseason building a rock solid offensive line.
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