Bengals' Lack of Ground Game Dooms Them in 16-10 Loss to Steelers

Cincinnati is 5-6 on the season following their loss to Pittsburgh.

Jake Browning got the start at quarterback on Sunday in the Bengals' matchup with the Steelers. Joe Burrow is out for the season and expected to have surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right wrist on Monday.

The Steelers expected Cincinnati to lean into their run game without Burrow under center but instead, the Bengals essentially operated without a rushing attack.

Joe Mixon only had eight attempts and finished with 16 rushing yards. Trayvon Williams didn’t receive a single touch on offense while Chase Brown was activated from injured reserve and didn't get a single snap in Sunday’s 16-10 loss.

“That was huge, that was a point of emphasis,” T.J. Watt said. “We know how dominant of a back he can be, especially in the run game and the screen game. The one at the end we needed to contain but overall I thought we did a good job for the most part today.”

Mixon was given a rushing attempt with 12:59 remaining in the third quarter and didn’t touch the ball again until Browning hit him with a short pass with 2:51 to go in the game. With just 43 offensive plays on Sunday, the Bengals didn't seize the few opportunities they had. The team punted the ball away six times and finished just 2-of-10 on third down.

The lack of commitment to the run within this offense has been present all year. Cincinnati has eclipsed 20 rushing attempts just four times through 12 games. There have only been three games this season where the Bengals had more rushing attempts than their opponent.

The first came in Week 5 where the Bengals had a season-high 30 rushing attempts compared to Arizona’s 22 attempts. Cincinnati came away with a 34-20 win, their first road victory of the year. 

In Week 7, Cincinnati was coming off of a bye week, had a huge road test in San Francisco. They rushed the ball 27 times compared to the 49ers 23 attempts and flew home with a decisive 31-17 win. The next week Cincinnati hosted the Bills and while the offense only attempted to run the ball 22 times, they still ran the ball more than Buffalo (16 attempts) and won 24-18.

The two games Cincinnati won without committing to a rushing attack, seeing just 15 attempts in each contest, were won by a combined 7 points.

“That’s kind of been our problem this year,” Ted Karras said. “Obviously we have very much underachieved in the run game. I think when you have a new quarterback come in you want to be able to lean on the run and we were not able to today. Still had a chance to win but ultimately failed.”

Failing in that area made Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin's day a bit easier by simply taking away running lanes and jamming up the line of scrimmage.

“When the opponent is playing with a young quarterback, it puts an emphasis on the run game,” Tomlin said. “I felt like the last two weeks we did a really nice job against the run when people are really committed to it. I’m appreciative of that.”

Cincinnati could get away with a lack of rushing attack with a special player like Burrow at quarterback, but the lack of love for the ground game has been a detriment to the overall results. 

It doesn’t take a football genius to know that playing in this league without a rushing attack is not sustainable long-term. Cincinnati averages just 17.6 rushing attempts per contest.

“This has nothing to do with Joe Mixon. This is the entirety of the unit coming together,” Zac Taylor said. “Don’t make this about one person. It’s not like there were missed opportunities there from what I could see. He continues to run hard and he’s given us what we needed this season.”

Taylor is right. It has little to do with Mixon and more to do with the overall run game. Williams and Brown never got a chance to make an impact on offense. 

Failing to establish a run and failing to utilize two capable running backs means opposing defenses don’t need to bother themselves with respecting Cincinnati's run game. 

It’s been a problem all year, but is it correctable with just six games left in the regular season?

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