The Bengals haven’t gotten as far as they have this season by accident. They’ve won nine games by not killing themselves with mistakes, by running the ball and by playing solid defensive.
But are they relying too much on their running game?
On Sunday in Minnesota, the Bengals attempted 24 runs and 28 passes. That’s a nice, balanced offensive approach but it got them nowhere in a 30-10 loss to the Vikings.
Marvin Lewis had to have known that the Bengals weren’t going to line up and just run the ball at will against the stout Minnesota front four. Granted, Cincinnati did manage to gain 119 yards on the ground, but Carson Palmer threw for just 94 yards despite completing 15-of-25 pass attempts. The Bengals had zero vertical passing game whatsoever.
Following the loss, Chad Ochocinco hit the nail on the end when he summed up his team’s offensive game plan coming into Sunday:
“I am not sure if we were really focused on getting the passing game going today,” Ochocinco said. “I think what we wanted to do was establish the run like we have been doing all year. We wanted to pass, as needed.”
The Bengals shouldn’t change their identify based on their opponent, but that doesn’t mean that they also shouldn’t make adjustments in order to win the game. Yes, they had some success running the football against the Vikings. But it was apparent that the running game alone wasn’t going to help them beat Minnesota and yet Lewis and his coaching staff never adjusted.
The Bengals are a damn good team and they played a great opponent in a tough environment. But in order for them to become elite, they need to find a way to beat teams through the air or else they’re going to have a tough time advancing in the post season.
