CINCINNATI — A gray, wet sky blanketed Paycor Stadium on Sunday. It looked a lot like the state of the season for the Cincinnati Bengals at the moment. Jake Browning and Co. have a lot of work to do.
Back in October, Cincinnati was confident and roaring again, winning four straight games behind a finally healthy Joe Burrow. At 5-3, the Bengals were back in the thick of the AFC North Then came a three-point home loss to Houston on Nov. 12.Then it got worse.
Burrow was lost for the season when he tore a ligament in his right hand during a 34-20 loss at Baltimore on Nov. 16. The star quarterback had surgery on Monday. With former practice squad QB Browning making his first NFL start Sunday, the last-place Bengals lost 16-10 to Pittsburgh. They dropped to 5-6, a full two games behind the 7-4 Steelers and Browns and well out of reach of the 9-3 Ravens on top of the AFC North.
All hope of making the playoffs for a third straight season is not lost, but the defending division champions will have to figure out how to win without their spiritual leader and rally behind a new quarterback who doesn’t look ready for prime time. “That’s how the NFL season goes. You’re going to hit stretches, and you’ve got to find a way to overcome them and regroup,” coach Zac Taylor said.
“Our attention to detail will continue to be sharp, and we will find ways to win in December,” he said. “This team has shown the ability to do that in the past.”
