Cincinnati Bengals: Takeaways from blowout loss vs. Saints

Outmatched vs. Elite Teams

The lack of Green isn’t the only issue with this team, of course. Unfortunately, the issues go deeper than that. Put simply, this team is completely out of their depths against the NFL’s elite squads.

We’ve learned throughout the season that when healthy Cincinnati can beat the teams with fatal weaknesses to exploit and clear areas of talent deficiency. That’s essentially how they got all their victories: none of the teams who fell to them (Indianapolis, Baltimore, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa Bay) are currently favorites to make the playoffs, and only one has any better than 25 percent odds as things stand.

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Face a team with elite talent, however, and their luck turns sour. All four of their losses have come to expected playoff teams, with three of those four having odds above 90% to make the playoffs as things stand today. The way they lost is instructive: they played Pittsburgh close, but were completely blown away by Carolina, Kansas City, and New Orleans.

The issues are apparent on both sides of the ball. For all their supposed talents on offense, they only really trusts Green and maybe Boyd to make plays when called upon, and the unit goes cold for ungodly stretches to throw even the most secure victories into question.

Meanwhile, the defense has a few really good talents (Atkins, Carlos Dunlap, William Jackson III), but is extremely lacking in useful depth around them and has been decimated by injuries throughout this year. They’ve invested heavily in players like Dre Kirkpatrick and Vontaze Burfict, but those guys have never lived up to the hype while their deficiencies have been exploited endlessly by the opposition.

Teams with the sort of talent that Kansas City, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh have can put up shootout-level points in any matchup, much less a group which has now let up 500+ yards to three straight opponents. The Cincinnati offense must be at peak efficiency to keep up, and they have failed to do so against any of these elite groups, leading to massive deficits and ridiculous turnovers while their chances at victory sink dramatically.

The issues here are substantial, likely taking years (and likely wholesale changes to the coaching staff) to fix properly. Still, even with all the awful losses and undeniable issues…