The Bengals have had a rough start to their season and suffered their third straight loss on Monday against the Washington Commanders.
This is the Bengals first 0-3 start since the Joe Burrow era began. They were expected to win not only against the Commanders but also against the Patriots in their first game of the season but struggled on offense and defense.
The lack of victories has left players and fans with mixed feelings. Quarterback, Joe Burrow, has made it very clear that he is not happy with his team’s performance so far, but will not give up hope for the rest of the season.
“We’re by no means out of it, but playoffs and winning division is the furthest thing from my mind,” Burrow said.
After Monday’s game, Burrow walked to the coach’s office with Head Coach Zac Taylor. He has stated that they had an important, yet positive conversation that both of them felt needed to happen, but refused to get into any other details.
Taylor is also frustrated and said that the Bengals need to do a better job to control the tempo of the game. The offense hasn’t been stable enough to take the pressure off of the defense and vice versa.
“It’s a kick in the gut when you put in all this work in the offseason, in training camp, and you feel really good about the team and you start off 0-3,” Taylor said.
Even though the consistent losses make the rest of the season seem dismal, fans and players remain optimistic because the remainder of their schedule is relatively easy. They are favored in 10 out of 14 of their future games, but will have to fix their recent problems to get their first win.
Burrow has also played very well over the past few games. Against the Commanders, he went 29-of-38 and passed for 324 yards, three passing touchdowns, and zero interceptions.
Wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase also had his first 100-yard game since Week 13 of last season and scored 41 and 31 yard touchdowns on Monday.
Since 1990, only four out of 162 teams who started the season 0-3 have made the postseason. If the Bengals want to make that number five, they will have to keep their heads up, stay aggressive, and push through the rest of the season.
