Over the last year, the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs have played each other three times. Even though in all three of those matchups, the Chiefs were ahead entering the fourth quarter, Joe Burrow and the Bengals have walked away with three victories.
Burrow is playing some of the best ball of his career. He’s second in the league in passing yards (3,446) and he’s had a 100+ passer rating in four out of his last six games. Without Ja’Marr Chase, the Bengals have relied on the run, which have put them fifth-highest in offensive DVOA in the league, per Football Outsiders. Chase returned for the Chiefs game, which gave the Chiefs one more thing to deal with.
The Bengals have now put themselves in contention as one of the top AFC teams. Let’s dive into the film to see how head coach/offensive shot-caller Zac Taylor and Burrow have elevated the Bengals’ offense over the last few weeks.
Attacking the Chiefs' Cover-4.
The Bengals started off by attacking the shallow part of the Chiefs defense, since they were running ‘nickel’ (five defensive backs) lined up in off-coverage, to prevent the Bengals deep passing game.
On the second play of the game, the Bengals decided to put their tight end on a stick route and the inside slot on a slant, forcing the nickel cornerback L’Jarius Sneed to have to make a choice to drop, or step up.
This forced the linebackers to open up a little wider to create a bigger hole in the middle of the field.
On the third pass of the game, the Bengals ran a similar concept as the first, but to the opposite side of the field.
Early in this game the Bengals became aware of how much Chase spread the field. On this play, the Bengals knew that with an extra rusher coming from the outside, the linebacker Willie Gay would have to slide over and help the lonely corner.
This showed the Bengals that they could now exploit the space between the linebackers. Once they crossed over the 50-yard line, on the first drive, they ran two plays targeting the middle of the field to put them into red zone territory.
If the Chiefs continued to play a Cover-4 zone all night, the Bengals would just continue to go to the middle of the field.
Just like that!
The Bengals went up 7-3 in the first quarter and their offensive game plan was already in motion. As long as they could stay ahead of the Chiefs, they could begin running the ball and controlling the clock.
Marrying the run and pass games.
The Chiefs’ linebackers adjusted their coverage on the very next drive as they started dropping middle linebacker Nick Bolton and bracketing the shallow reads. Check out how Bolton takes away the middle of the field from Burrow, and now the quarterback is forced to make a play with his legs.
With the Chiefs forcing a second-and short, the Bengals now came out in a run-fit. With Burrow under center and needing only one yard to convert, the Bengals called play action, and the Chiefs completely bought the run probability.
Even though this was an incompletion, the Bengals still seemed to be putting the Chiefs on their heels. Every time the defense felt like they shut down the Bengals’ offense, Burrow always had an answer.
The Bengals were scheming to get their running back more involved, whether that was running it up the gut or catching out of the backfield. According to Football Outsiders, the Chiefs defense is ranked 29th against running backs in the passing game. So, it was only a matter of time before Samaje Perine started getting the ball more.
The Bengals started taking chunks of yards on the ground calling three or four run plays at a time. The Bengals had 82 rushing yards by halftime and ended the game with 152 yards on the ground.
Throughout the game, once the Chiefs were forced to step up and stop the bleeding, Burrow would just go back to attacking the middle of the field.
When the Chiefs defense switched to man coverage early in the second quarter, Burrow used his accuracy to throw his guys open. On the clip above, there was nothing more cornerback Joshua Williams could do to defend this pass.
Burrow continued to make pinpoint accurate placement throws all night. On third-and-11 with 1:59 left on the clock, Burrow puts a ball right on Higgins chest to seal the win.
Burrow’s accuracy is what has the Bengals in their current position. They have a four-game win streak that started without their number one receiver, Chase.
The Bengals' entire offense is coming alive.
What tells us that the Bengals are the real deal are the splits. In the first seven weeks of the season (with Chase) the Bengals had the fifth best passing offensive DVOA with 31.5% and their overall offensive DVOA was seventh at 11.7%.
In the second half of the season, (without Chase), the Bengals pass offense didn’t drop off. They ranked sixth, but their DVOA increased to 44.9%, and their overall offensive is now first with 36.4%; mainly because of how they used their rushing attack. Over these last four games the Bengals have the No. 1 rush offense DVOA, with 32.2%.
Since Week 9, they have 562 rushing yards and Burrow has thrown for 1,114 yards, eight touchdowns and has averaged a quarterback rating of 105.4.
Part of this success is because of how well the front five are playing. The offensive line has been revamped from last year. The only player that remained on the depth chart was left tackle Jonah Williams. So, it’s no wonder that it took the first half of the season for these guys to gel. This offensive line allowed only one sack against the Chiefs, bringing the total to five, over the past four games. That’s the best span of pass blocking in Burrow’s entire career!
The Bengals are now sitting fifth in the league in time of possession, averaging 32 minutes, per teamrankings. This increased by two minutes from last year. In 2021 the Bengals were 12th, averaging 30 minutes in time of possession.
With all the extra time in the pocket, Burrow now has opportunities to dissect defenses, which is how he’s been able to move the offense through the air without his number one threat.
Here are a few tight window throws that Burrow has made over the last few weeks:
Between Burrow’s incredible placement and his back shoulder throws, we shouldn’t be surprised that he is second in completion percentage (69.4%), T-third in touchdowns (25), fourth in quarterback rating (103.9), fifth in yards per attempt (7.9), and sixth in completions (308).
According to NFL.com, the Bengals have the third-most 20+ yard passing plays, with 44.
With Burrow showing no signs of slowing down, he might put himself in the MVP conversation. Here is what Burrow had to say about that subject, “I don’t play the game for those kinds of accolades. I play the game for those guys in the locker room. What it takes from me every Sunday, that’s what I’ll do. If I have to hand the ball off 72 times and come out with a win, I’ll be happy.”
The Bengals are just now catching stride with Chase back in the lineup, and if they continue to play with this much efficiency on offense, there is no telling how far they could end up in the playoffs. Hopefully you didn’t count them out mid-way through the season like some others…
City of Cincinnati @Chris_Broussard wants you to know he's sorry for writing off the Bengals 😅 pic.twitter.com/CrjXMr6Src
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) December 5, 2022
…because they could find their way making a repeat Super Bowl run.
Only time will tell!
