Perhaps it’s time to bring in a fresh perspective or two after the Steelers, who lost to a team that fired its offensive coordinator and has a quarterback shortage, twice in five weeks.

Taylor is credited with creating a positive locker room culture and attracting a large number of talented players who also appear to be well-rounded individuals.

It’s admirable that Joe Burrow did not give up after suffering another season-ending injury. It demonstrates that the Bengals have options besides the franchise quarterback, which may bring them more peace of mind than selecting a player a few spots higher in the draft.

Although it’s always in style to criticize specific play calls, I don’t see anything wrong with those.

No, the offensive mindset as a whole is just repulsive.

There’s no reason to think it gets better unless they make some changes because it’s been bad from the beginning.

Although I believe Burrow shares some of the blame, notice something? He won’t be leaving.

Taylor shouldn’t be, nor is he.

Much more than Xs and Os falls under the purview of the head coach. He is the organization’s leader, and Taylor appears to do a decent job of it.

But the Bengals always seem to be late to figure out what their personnel can actually do, and Taylor and offensive coordinator Brian Callahan both cut their teeth in a version of the West Coast offense that has been going stale for many years.

The Bengals’ heavy reliance on 11 players—three receivers, one tight end, and one running back—also appears to be going out of style across the league. It calls for specific players—an excellent, versatile tight end, an explosive running back, and an athletic offensive line—that they either don’t currently have or won’t have in the near future.

Burrow must keep developing in the interim, and I have no doubt that he will.

It takes more than five Hall of Fame offensive linemen to replicate what launched his career at LSU in the NFL. In the real world, the Bengals’ inability to slow down the pass rush causes him to be sacked and hit excessively. Running the ball is not something they believe in, and theyare too willing to forgo protection in order to jam as many guys into pass routes as possible.

They need to play more play action and under center to slow down the rush and create big plays if they want to advance and truly reach their offensive potential.

Burrow is a realistic guy who wants to win, so he might push back. A coach’s responsibility is to motivate his team to reach their full potential, whatever that may entail.

The new NFL defensive philosophy, which is also making its way into college football, is to give up some running room in exchange for preventing the opponent from throwing the ball farther than eight yards downfield. This is especially detrimental to the Bengals’ preferred passing game strategy.

That doesn’t mean everyone has to turn into the Tennessee Titans, riding Derrick Henry to the limit, but it does mean that, in terms of offensive efficiency and balance, the running game becomes increasingly important.

After his Ohio State offense of 2021 put up big yards but struggled to score points in defeats to Oregon and Michigan, Ryan Day actually learned this lesson.

Even though the Buckeyes overcorrected early in the season, he at least gets credit for attempting to be more balanced. This effort appeared to be paying off in the second half of the season until he was again bitten by ineffective quarterback play and dubious game management in a defeat to the Wolverines.

The coaching staff at Ohio State appeared to trulythis season, you will miss Kevin Wilson’s seasoned presence. A relatively young offensive group was left behind by Wilson when he left to take a position as head coach at Tulsa.

Even though the Buckeyes made some excellent adjustments during the season after a difficult first half, Day is still one of the best offensive football brains around, but he too has a lot on his plate. He admitted that by attempting to transfer some of them to his assistants this year, he may have chosen the incorrect year to do so in 2023 given Wilson’s departure.

However, in regards to Ohio State or the Bengals, I’m not here to demand that anyone be fired.

I’ve never been one to support making changes just for their own sake.

However, I can’t help but wonder whether every organization would gain from having one or two assistants find a way to spread his wings elsewhere, particularly if he could be replaced by a more experienced and unconventional candidate.