Time for Bengals actuality test after blowout win vs. Arizona Cardinals

The Cincinnati Bengals blew out a nasty crew for the second straight week.

They have been having a lot enjoyable in Sunday’s 37-14 win towards Arizona, the truth is, the Bengals have been throwing passes to offensive linemen. Props to educate Zac Taylor for retaining the locker room united, regardless of being thrown to the wolves by his personal entrance workplace and informed to reply for a subpar roster and misplaced season.

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OK, then. ’Tis the season to pause for a actuality test.

The Bengals nonetheless solely have one win towards a crew that has clinched a playoff berth coming into the ultimate weekend of the common season. That win got here in Week 2, when Joe Burrow suffered a toe damage and the Bengals by some means survived three interceptions by backup quarterback Jake Browning to defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars.

It’s necessary to maintain that perspective, as Burrow and the offense hummed alongside towards god-awful Arizona at Paycor Stadium. The entrance workplace desires everybody seeing and believing that these previous few weeks is how all season would’ve gone had Burrow been wholesome and a few defensive gamers figured issues out a bit sooner.

Big image, of us. Remember, it was simply two weeks in the past – within the wake of an unsightly 24-0 residence loss to Baltimore that ought to’ve at the least warranted a pink slip for roster architect Duke Tobin – when Burrow called the Bengals a “bad” team. Bad groups don’t all of the sudden grow to be good groups just because they beat up on a pair groups enjoying out the string.

I’m not right here to break the vacation cheer. Looks like hundreds of followers had a jolly good time on an unseasonably heat day watching Burrow toss the ball everywhere in the discipline. He even related with 350-pound offensive lineman Cody Ford for a 21-yard reception. What a blast it was watching the massive fella rumble down the sideline to arrange first-and-goal.

Bengals gamers have been overheard chanting “Cody! Cody! Cody!” in the locker room after the game. Ford’s first (and probably last) career reception came on his 29th birthday, although Taylor wasn’t aware of that when he inserted the play in the playbook last week to “maintain the vitality sky excessive” among the offensive linemen.

“He was breaking tackles,” Taylor said, smiling. “That was fairly spectacular.”

Such a moment should remind fans that it’s OK to have fun, responsibly drink a few Miller Lites and be happy for the players and Taylor. It’s also OK not to get caught up in the moment of easy wins against Arizona and Miami.

Here’s the place it is reality-check time.

Too dangerous the protection performed so horribly for many of the season or else perhaps we might’ve been handled to extra garbage-time passes to offensive linemen. The Bengals might’ve already clinched a playoff berth, been resting their starters in these remaining few video games and referred to as extra unorthodox performs. How enjoyable would it not be watching 6-8, 350-pound offensive tackles Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims carrying the ball within the open discipline?

Snap again to actuality. Be aware that the Bengals possession and entrance workplace desires followers – and taxpayers – to overlook about losses to the Vikings, Jets, Bears, Patriots, Bills, Ravens, etc. They want fans to get caught up in the excitement of passes to Cody Ford. They want us to see the last two weeks as the real Bengals.

Arizona is 3-13 and hasn’t won a game in almost two months. It has a bottom 10 defense in the league. The Cardinals start career backup Jacoby Brissett. Last week’s 24-point road win was against the playoff-eliminated Dolphins and rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers, who was making his first career start.

Yeah, this is broken record stuff. But around here, fans and the taxpayers who continue to pour tens of millions into the Bengals’ stadium fund have to be constantly reminded to not get caught up in how the front office and, frankly, some local media folks view a couple of no-stakes, blowout wins.

The positive spin already started after the Miami game from some factions of the media. No one should buy that these last few games are the real Bengals and that this is how they’d have looked all season had Burrow not missed nine games. No one should buy that all those defensive draft picks who were trending toward busts just a few weeks ago are suddenly NFL-caliber starters and ready to breakout in 2026.

Fact is, blowout wins or losses in these final weeks should mean nothing for the direction of the franchise.

The defense needs an overhaul!

Write it down. Tweet it. Put it on a t-shirt. Whatever. Nothing that’s happened recently should change that. The Bengals are 6-10 and missing the playoffs for the third straight season because they can’t draft and develop good defensive players.

Sure, it’s important for the coaches to use these final few games to evaluate certain individual players moving forward. For example, is 2023 first-round draft pick Myles Murphy finally becoming a consistent performer at defensive end? Objectively, he seems to be trending in a positive direction down the stretch, but that question should remain unanswered entering the season finale against Cleveland and then into the offseason.

No one should be ready to anoint Murphy a success and a lock for a starting job in 2026 after 2½ seasons of being a non-factor.

No one’s job on the defensive side of the ball should be safe except cornerback DJ Turner. He has been the only starting defensive player who’s performed consistently well all season long. Yes, that includes against the good and bad teams.

So, enjoy passes to linemen. Enjoy watching a healthy Burrow sling it. And enjoy the blowouts. But don’t let the recent fun be a distraction from holding owner Mike Brown and Tobin, the player personnel director, accountable for fixing what remains a flawed roster.

Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com