Zac Taylor Takes Blame for Cincinnati Bengals' Recent Struggles: It 'Starts With Me'

The Bengals have scored 13 points in the last eight quarters. They've been outscored 76-13 over that span.

Their first half woes are even worse. Cincinnati has been outscored 55-6 in the first half of their last two games.

Who should shoulder the blame? Is it quarterback Jake Browning? The offensive line? A mixture of both?

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor took blame for their issues on offense and their undisciplined play on Wednesday afternoon—less than 48 hours after their 28-3 loss to the Broncos.

"It really starts with me on offense, getting those guys in a rhythm, create some momentum, so our defense isn't out there all day," Taylor said. "First and foremost it's my job to help Jake and find ways to give our guys the best chance to help Jake (Browning) as well."

"I'm optimistic right now that we put together a really good plan. I'm excited to get to work, practice today," he added. "We're all accountable that three points isn't good enough, ten points isn't good enough. Our expectation is that we have to score a lot to take pressure off our defense, put pressure on the opponent. We have not done that the last two weeks in particular. And it really starts with me on offense, getting those guys in a rhythm, create some momentum, so our defense isn't out there all day."

The Bengals play the 3-1 Lions on Sunday. Detroit is considered one of the NFL's best teams. Cincinnati is a double-digit home underdog for the first time since 2020.

"Part of playing the NFL is dealing with adversity. Every team at some point is going to face some adversity. We're facing it early in the season. We've done this before," Taylor said. "Part of our job is to come to work ready to roll, given our best, have a sense of urgency, not hang our heads because we've lost two games. That's unacceptable to me. Urgency is the word I would say. It has our standard been acceptable on every single play in the last two games. I would say it hasn't been. So you've got to look within yourself: 'Is my standard acceptable?' 'Hey, it wasn't that bad.' Not bad's not good enough. It's got to be great. And this week on a short week, I expect our guys to hold themselves to that standard. I'll hold them to that standard, myself to that standard. We have to be great. Anything less than that is unacceptable right now where we're at. We've just got to find a way to get our third win and get it quickly and build on that momentum from that."

The Bengals had two separate three game losing streaks last season (Weeks 1-3, Weeks 10-12). They're in danger of suffering their first three game losing streak of the 2025 campaign following their losses to the Vikings and Broncos, respectively.