The Cincinnati Bengals started their season off terribly, getting off to a 1-3 start through the first quarter of the season. Then they went out to the desert and defeated the Cardinals in a great offensive game, and came into this Sunday with an incredible chance to go into the Week 7 bye with a 3-3 record. They faced the 3-1 Seattle Seahawks coming off their bye week.
The final score was 17-13 in the Bengals favor. The end goal was reached, but the road to get there was filled with plenty of obstacles.
After two drives that ended with touchdown receptions by Tyler Boyd and Andrei Iosivas (his first of his career on his birthday), the offense, outside of a field goal, sputtered and stalled all afternoon. Here were their offensive drives on Sunday against the Seahawks:
- TD
- TD
- Punt
- Punt
- Interception
- Punt
- Punt
- Field Goal (should be noted they were set up on Seattle’s 34-yard line, but gained zero yards on this drive).
- Punt
- Punt
- Kneel down to kill the clock
Burrow said after the game that while he’ll never apologize for a win, he’s not satisfied with the way the offense played. However, he did say it is easier to fix things with a 3-3 record than a 2-4 one.
Joe Burrow happy with win but calls offense in second half “horrible”. “Everything is ahead of us… I’ll never apologize for winning.” pic.twitter.com/f0ztO6H8HG
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) October 15, 2023
The offense couldn’t move the ball after their first two drives at all. It all came to a head with less than two minutes left in the game. The Bengals got the ball back with a chance to kill the clock. All they needed was a first down.
Instead, they gained four yards on a Joe Mixon rush, Burrow threw one incomplete pass, and there was an offensive pass interference call against Tee Higgins, which was declined because the pass was dropped.
The Bengals punted after three plays that only burned 15 seconds off the clock. Had the Seahawks attempted a field goal instead of going for it on fourth down with 2:16 left, they would have gotten the ball back 15 seconds later, down by 1.
To Burrow’s point, they did win the game, and a win is a win, They’re very much in the hunt for their third consecutive division title, and they have two weeks before they have to take the field again.
Hopefully, they use that time to fix what ails the offense, because coming out of the bye week, the Bengals go through a brutal gauntlet of games against teams including the 49ers, Bills, Ravens, Steelers, and Jaguars.
If the offense isn’t firing on all cylinders by then, they’re going to have a tough time not only winning the division but making it into the playoffs as a wild card team as well.
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