The Bengals probably won’t have Joe Burrow in uniform again this year. That’s a major bummer, with him being in that top tier of quarterbacks – up there with Allen, Jackson and Mahomes. But Cincinnati’s passing game isn’t necessarily dead in the water.
They’ve got Jake Browning, and while he’s no Burrow, he’s a capable veteran with a lot of talent around him. He’s also in a pass-heavy system. Zac Taylor believes in putting the ball in the air, with the running game tending to be an afterthought that gets mixed in at times. Cincinnati has ranked 29th, 31st and 30th in rushing the last three years.
Browning has shown some ability to run an offense. When he replaced Burrow for seven games two years ago, he averaged 267 passing yards, with 11 touchdowns and another 3 TDs on runs. And he came off the bench yesterday to pass for 241 yards and 2 TDs, with a game-winning quarterback sneak at the end. They've gone 5-3 with him under center.
Last week we kicked around the likelihood that San Francisco’s passing game wouldn’t miss Brock Purdy as much as many were thinking. There’s the quarterbacking portion of the position, but also the surround cast and play-calling. And there’s some of that Shanahan-49ers dynamic in play here with Taylor-Bengals, I think.
I expect there were some meltdown games. Browning has been Cincinnati’s main quarterback for eight games, and he’s 10 interceptions in those games, with multiple picks in half of them. But he’ll be piling up some yards and touchdowns. With the way that offense is structured and with the talent around him, I could see him being a top-15 quarterback (numbers-wise) for the remainder of the season.
| BENGALS WITH BROWNING | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Com | Att | Yards | TD | Int | Rushing |
| 2023 | Pitt. | L, 10-16 | 19 | 26 | 227 | 1 | 1 | 3-9-0 |
| 2023 | at Jac. | W, 34-31 | 32 | 37 | 354 | 1 | 0 | 2-22-1 |
| 2023 | Ind. | W, 34-14 | 18 | 24 | 275 | 2 | 1 | 3-7-1 |
| 2023 | Min. | W, 27-24 | 29 | 42 | 324 | 2 | 1 | 4-0-0 |
| 2023 | at Pitt. | L, 11-34 | 28 | 42 | 335 | 1 | 3 | 1-0-0 |
| 2023 | at K.C. | L, 17-25 | 19 | 33 | 197 | 1 | 0 | 7-32-1 |
| 2023 | Clev. | W, 31-14 | 18 | 24 | 156 | 3 | 1 | 2-18-0 |
| 2025 | Jac. | W, 31-27 | 21 | 32 | 241 | 2 | 3 | 1-1-1 |
—Ian Allan