Cincinnati suffered another numbing defeat – its third in a row since its quarterback savior, Joe Burrow, was lost with turf toe 23 days ago – and this failure wasn’t nearly as close as the 37-24 final score indicates.
Until a fourth quarter flurry of points – “too little, too late,” as star receiver and team captain Ja’Maar Chase put afterward – the Bengals weren’t faring much better than those condemned criminals who used to be tossed to the hungry lions in Roman Colosseum times.
By the end of the third quarter Cincinnati trailed 28-3 and Browning was playing like a guy who needed glasses to help tell the Lions’ white with blue trim jerseys from the Bengals’ black tops.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
He’d thrown three interceptions and now has eight overall since taking over from Burrow. That’s the second most in the NFL.
Couple that with the lack of a running game; an offensive line starting two rookies – one of them, right guard Dylan Fairchild, looking at times like a broken turnstile that could be spun around with little resistance; an inability to get the ball to the team’s two, big playmaker receivers, Chase and Tee Higgins; and play calling that was predictable and the lone three points wasn’t so surprising.
Although the oft-maligned defense was playing well, so much else was askew.
Punter Ryan Rehkow showed an inability to pin the Lions deep in their own territory.
Midway through the game, Chase (someone had to stop the Lions interceptors) was the leading tackler.
And Browning, forced to scramble, would end up the Bengals leading rusher on the day with 31 yards.
When the game began, half of the crowd of 66,115 was wearing Lions’ blue.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
By game’s end, most of the fans who remained were joyous Detroit backers.
Before their Cincinnati counterparts had made their early exit, many had been booing, some since the end of the Bengals first possession.
Taylor said he heard the discontent, but vowed: “I’m absolutely confident we’ll get this turned around and fans will want to be in the stands…But I get it now.”
He said the blame for the team’s play and the sobering loss was on him:
“I’ve got to do a better job for this football team. This just hasn’t been good enough and I put that on myself. I put this thing together. When your head coach is your play caller, that’s where it ends right there.”
When someone brought up Browning’s failures, Taylor interjected:
“Again, put that on me. I’ve got to do a better job of getting us into a rhythm…so we can sustain drives and put points on the board.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
In defense of Browning, he pointed to the fourth quarter:
“He had three straight drives for touchdowns. That’s the Jake Browning I know. He’s resilient. He stares adversity in the face and continues to keep bouncing back.”
While he admitted his quarterback “can’t throw the ball into coverage,” Taylor stressed he had to do a better job managing the first half:
“This is on me.”
When Browning – who came to the media room some 12 minutes later –heard that Taylor had shouldered the blame, he shook his head:
“No! That’s on me.
“I appreciate him saying that, but I need to play better. There’s literally no hiding from that. I put us in brutal situations. Those three picks – that was just bad. That was bad football from me. I tried to force stuff that wasn’t there and as a result, I completely screwed over the team.
“I played awful today,
“Right now, it hurts. And it should because I care… But I feel like I let the team down.”
After listening to both Taylor and Browning take responsibility, I agree with both of them.
They’re both at fault.
While both swore they’d work nonstop to fix the problem – “I promise you with every breath I’ve got,” Taylor said – you can’t help but wonder how they are going to reinvent themselves after three straight flops where they also supposedly gave their full effort.
‘I respect that’
After Browning took over in the second game of the season and guided Cincinnati to a 31-27 victory over Jacksonville at Paycor Stadium, there were comparisons to when he took over for the injured Burrow in 2023 and went 4-3 as a starter.
He was billed as one of the best backup quarterbacks in the league and he said he thought he could be starting for some other teams around the league.
That line of thinking now has evaporated.
The Bengals have been outscored 113-37 in the past three games: losses to Minnesota, Denver and now the Lions.
Cincinnati’s 11 turnovers lead the NFL.
And as of Monday, they were the worst rushing team in the league.
And yet putting all that aside, they did show a flash of their old selves in the fourth quarter Sunday when they scored on three straight possessions with two TD passes to Chase and one to Higgins.
Chase was the offensive standout with six receptions for 110 yards and his two, highlight reel TD catches.
On the first one he saw Browning scrambling under duress and began working his way across the endzone until, in the midst of three defenders, he made a leaping, toe tap grab on the sideline of a desperation, but pinpoint, 15-yard throw by his quarterback.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
On the second TD catch just 4:18 later, Chase got behind Lions cornerback Amik Robertson and made an over-the-shoulder grab of a mighty Browning heave to complete a 64-yard touchdown that he ended with a backwards step into the endzone.
These were the first touchdowns he hadn’t celebrated with some kind of endzone dance since the second game of his rookie season five years ago.
He said with the situation and being a captain: “I needed to hold my composure and be a leader.”
Except for one moment, he did that well Sunday.
His one glitch?
After another Browning interception, he came walking off the field only to be met by Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt who got up close and said something,
“’Jog off the field’ is what he told me,” Chase admitted quite candidly as he stood at his locker afterward. “I respect him for that. He was holding me to a standard.
“As a man, I respect that.”
‘I’m not going to fold’
Next Sunday the Bengals meet the formidable Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. They’ll be underdogs again and though Taylor professes his utmost belief in Browning, he seemed to crack the door open to the possibility of trying to pick up another quarterback.
Asked if he still believed in Browning as his starter, he said:
“I do. Of course, after a game like that we’re going to look at all personnel to make sure we’re doing the right thing. I won’t shy away from that.
“That’s a very fair question (especially ) after the amount of turnovers we had.”
Then he reiterated: “I believe Jake can win games for us.”
There has been talk of the Bengals trying to pick up veterans like Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston and even Kirk Cousins, though he is a backup with Atlanta, who has a hefty contract and a no-trade clause.
For his part, Browning said he planned to spend extra time at the team’s headquarters this week just “to double down and try to improve and help the team.”
He stressed, “I’m not going to fold,” but then added, “Whether I get better or not, who knows…that’s to be determined. But it won’t be because of my lack of effort and determination.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
You pull for a guy like Browning, whose candid critique of himself Sunday at times resembled self-flagellation.
He knows the stakes here. He’s not just fighting to keep his starting job, but maybe even to stay in the league .
If his star dims again, he could be back to where he was a few years ago: out of football and ready to begin a coaching job.
None of the Bengals expected to be in this predicament a month ago and since then they all have had to make adjudgments, especially Chase, who said he had planned to celebrate after one of his TD catches Sunday:
“I wanted to jump in with the fans, but it wouldn’t be fun jumping into the stands doing all the extra hooraying when you’re losing.”
If that’s the case, the way things look now, it may be a good while until Chase and the Bengals again have a jubilant day of hooraying.
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