'It's a Mentality' - What Needs To Change For the Bengals To Start Seasons Faster?

Jay Morrison | Jan 7, 2025

New England Patriots linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley (8) tackles Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) in the fourth quarter of the NFL game at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. / Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

CINCINNATI – It’s impossible to look at what lies ahead for the Cincinnati Bengals without looking back.

The reason they will be watching games on TV the next few weeks.

The reason they will be conducting interviews for a new defensive coordinator – including Patrick Graham – and three other assistants.

The reason Zac Taylor could be in a playoffs-or-bust seventh season as head coach.

All of it traces back to repeated face plants in the opening two weeks of the season.

And reversing that trend will be one of the most important tasks facing Taylor after filling out his coaching staff.

Do they need to do more in the offseason program? Do they need to work harder in training camp? Do they need to play their starters in the preseason?

“Those are certainly things that I have to evaluate,” Taylor said during his season-ending news conference Monday.

Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo lost his job because his group was one of the worst in the league in yards and points allowed per game.

Ironically, one of their best performances of the season is one of the most damning reasons the Bengals missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season – the 16-10 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 1.

That loss coupled with the Week 2 loss at Kansas City dropped the Bengals to 1-11 in Weeks 1-2 under Taylor.

That’s the worst record in the league during that time, as only one other team (Carolina, 2-10) has fewer than three wins.

While other teams are grinding in the summer heat during training camp, it’s had more of a country club feel in Cincinnati.

Taylor values body maintenance and making sure teams are playing at their best when the games matter most – at the end of the season. And that philosophy has produced intended success as the Bengals are 22-8 in December/January.

But the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

It is possible to start fast and finish strong.

Quarterback Joe Burrow has lobbied for more playing time in the preseason as a way to shake off rust and be better prepared for the season opener.

But Burrow has always been battling something in the preseason. This year it was a stilted recovery from wrist surgery. Last year it was the calf. In 2022 it was the appendectomy. In 2021 ACL rehab.

Taylor did break tradition this year and played Burrow and the offensive starters for 13 snaps in the preseason, but that was the opener on Aug. 10.

It would be nearly a full month before they saw live reps again on Sept. 8 against the Patriots.

“There will be a lot of time to evaluate all of that,” Taylor said.

Bengals left tackle and team captain Orlando Brown Jr. said he didn’t think much needed to change procedurally.

It’s more internally.

“I don’t think any of those things (training camp, playing in the preseason) need to change,” Brown said. “It's more mentality than anything. Sometimes at the highest level of football, you've got to get used and comfortable to understanding of pushing yourself to the limit of what it takes to win.

“These last two years, mentally we haven't been in that state of mind,” he added. “Our backs are against the wall in December and November, and we have to fight for a chance to get where we want to get. The mindset, the fire that's let underneath your ass at that point needs to be there in July, June, August, all the way through.”

There will be a lot of focus on the roster in February, March and April as the Bengals look to build through free agency and the draft.

But when it comes time for OTAs in May, mini camp in June and training camp starting in July, there is going to be a lot of attention on what, if anything, has changed procedurally to get the team ready to start the season fast.

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