NFL
By Jalen Willingham
Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning was on fire Monday night against the Jaguars and has given fans hope once again in a disappointing season. He was 32/37 on his attempts while throwing for 354 yards and one touchdown on top of rushing for one touchdown on the ground to lead the Bengals to a 34-31 overtime win over the Jaguars. Browning without a doubt showed me something that I didn’t even think he was capable of. It’s caused people to question whether or not the Bengals can actually still make the playoffs even without having Joe Burrow.
Even with Jake Brownings superb play, the offense clicking on all cylinders for most of Monday night doesn’t just fall solely on his shoulders. The Bengals finally got back to doing the one thing that they have consistently failed to do on offense and that is running the football.
The Bengals have scored over 30 points 3 times this year.
Arizona – 30 rushing attempts
San Francisco- 27 rushing attempts
Jacksonville- 31 rushing attemptsBalanced offense has always helped this team. It always will.
— Drew Garrison (@DrewGarrison) December 5, 2023
Cincinnati had 31 attempts on the ground against Jacksonville. Before the game, they only had one other game this season where they ran the ball over 30 times. They were also 2-0 when they ran the ball 27+ times a game in 2023. On top of the Bengals committing to the ground game, fans also got a chance to get a good look at rookie running back Chase Brown.
In the short time that he was in on offense, he definitely showed that he can be a solid running back to take pressure off of Joe Mixon. Even though Brown only got 11 snaps on offense, he still had nine carries for 61 yards which was only seven yards short of Joe Mixon’s 68 yards on 19 attempts. It took a while to finally get him integrated due to being on injured reserve, but we need to see a lot more of Chase Brown going forward.
As far as passing game goes, Ja’Marr Chase needs to continue to get the ball as much as possible. He probably isn’t going to see single coverage looks like he did facing Jacksonville but my point stands. Zac Taylor needs to scheme him open as much as possible in passing situations. Tee Higgins being back will also help the offense a lot despite 2023 being his worst year as a pro. Taylor needs to make reads as easy as possible for Jake Browning.
As far as other parts of the team goes, the defense quite literally needs to wake up. You simply can’t expect your backup quarterback to play a near perfect game every week. The defense needs to come alive, stop the run and make pivotal stops to keep games close. Even though they could also play four other backup quarterbacks to finish the season, defense is going to win games in December.
Finally, the Bengals road to the postseason will go through teams who all have records at .500 or better. This includes the 7-5 Indianapolis Colts, 6-6 Minnesota Vikings, 7-5 Pittsburgh Steelers, 8-4 Kansas City Chiefs and ending the season with the Cleveland Browns who are currently 7-5. Cincinnati is 0-4 in their own division and 2-6 in the AFC. They have to come away with those last two division games.
Every week is a must-win. The path for the Bengals to make it in may in fact be finishing the year with 10 wins at least. I don’t think 9-8 gets you in this year with how competitive the AFC has been. They can definitely slide into a wild card spot with the right play all-around. Sitting at 6-6 and still on the hunt, the road to January football will not be easy.
Week 14 Schedule for teams in the AFC Wild Card Race:
Patriots at (5) Steelers
(6) Colts at (11) Bengals
(4) Jaguars* at (7) Browns
(8) Texans at Jets
(9) Broncos at Chargers
(10) Bills at (3) Chiefs*(* denotes current division leader)
Wouldn't really consider the Chiefs as… pic.twitter.com/hFxqXdpIqr
— Willie Lutz (@willie_lutz) December 6, 2023
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