The Cincinnati Bengals nearly had as many points as they had total rushing yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The problem? They only scored 17 points.

On a day when struggles on offense outweighed the defense performing above expectation, there is nowhere else to start but one of the worst rushing attacks in recent Bengals history.

Cincinnati finished with 23 rushing yards on 15 attempts against the Jaguars in their 22-17 loss. Starting running back Chase Brown had 10 yards on nine carries. His six-yard run was the longest of the day for the entire team. Samaje Perine added just seven yards on three carries. Quarterback Joe Burrow chipped in six yards on three carries, including a one-yard QB sneak touchdown.

It was so bad, Burrow himself would’ve preferred a more extreme approach.

Joe Burrow’s head-turning statement is totally valid

Cincinnati had Burrow throw the ball 54 times on 69 total plays, a pass rate of 78.2%. It’s the second-highest pass rate of the season thus far, according to Shawn Syed of SumerSports.

And Burrow wouldn’t have minded throwing more.

“Let’s throw it more,” Burrow said when asked if the offense is balanced enough. “Because I know we’re great at it. I know that’s what I do best. We’re really pass protecting well right now. Obviously we’d like to get more out of the run game, but we’ll make it work.”

It’s hard to make it work by throwing essentially eight out of 10 plays. And yet, somehow, Burrow throwing the ball another 15 times may’ve been better than calling runs on those plays.

And considering the time of year and Burrow’s health, it’s an even greater indictment on the run game.

No excuses to hide behind like in the past 

Cincinnati’s offense, and therefore run game, has usually been a level below its best in the first month of the year in recent years. Part of that is due to injuries Burrow has dealt with at the start of past seasons. Weak QB play in turn can increase the difficulty of putting together a quality run game with opposing defenses operating with fewer worries of the pass game.

The Bengals have had bad days running the ball with Burrow recovering from ailments, or just not playing at all. Sunday was essentially as bad as it’s ever been with Burrow out there and 100% healthy.

Per Sumer, Cincinnati mustered a -0.31 EPA/rush and a 26.7% success rate on the ground. It’s the third-worst EPA/rush, and the fifth-worst rushing success rate the offense has had in the first four weeks of a season going back to 2022. Most of the games with a lower success rate involved a version of Burrow still recovering from an ailment. The worst EPA/rush outing featuring Jake Browning under center.

Not having Ja’Marr Chase on the field for nearly three quarters hurt. The Bengals had four rushing yards on five carries before losing their star wide receiver to a concussion. It was a bad day from the jump, and there is no excusing it away.

Explosive runs were already missing

The bigger problem is that this didn’t come out of nowhere. Even entering Sunday’s game, Cincinnati’s offense was missing the dimension of explosive runs.

Brown’s longest rush of the season before Sunday was just 13 yards. Coach Zac Taylor said two weeks ago they were close to hitting a home run, that it was the next step in its progression. He was right back when they were hitting hard singles. They struck out so much against Jacksonville, it makes you wonder if they can even see the ball now.

The Bengals ranked 20th in EPA per rush and 18th in success rate through three weeks, per Sumer. They’re now 25th and 23rd, respectively, with “Monday Night Football” still to be played. The lack of explosives remains a large concern, and the once mediocre stability of generating rushes of positive value has now dwindled.

Time to hammer down an identity

The Jaguars entered the week as an above-average run defense. Still, Brown and Perine should have been nowhere near this level of terrible. The offensive line also shouldn’t have had nearly this much trouble opening holes for them.

It feels like this part of the offense took a major step back. As always, when the situation looks bleak, there’s only room to go up.

But that means figuring out what works, and what doesn’t first.

Cincinnati needs to get back on track with its ground attack. Answers outside of Brown creating more yards on his own may not be easy to find, but the Bengals simply must identify the concepts he’s most comfortable with, the offensive line can block the best, and simply lean on them to give Burrow a break. He cannot drop back over 50 times every single week and expect to win, let alone survive the season. 

Abandoning the run is better than running for nowhere, but the Bengals cannot go far with just Burrow’s arm. Sunday’s loss needs to be an aberration rather than the beginning of a completely one-dimensional offense.