The Cincinnati Bengals’ offense is explosive and spectacular. But it has one major weakness: The offensive line is one of the worst in the league, and the numbers show it. That this doesn’t always have to mean something is proven by the “first leg” against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Munich/Cincinnati – It was an afternoon for the history books when the Cincinnati Bengals won at the Tennessee Titans in the Divisional Playoffs.

Not only did the visitors from Ohio end their long drought of away wins in the playoffs, but the Titans also set a record: Joe Burrow was sacked nine times, a playoff best. The reason for that is not only the Titans’ outstanding pass rush, but also the Bengals’ spotty offensive line.

Injury to Burrow due to weak O-Line – Chase instead of Sewell in draft

This is not a new problem for the Bengals. Back in 2020, protection for the Bengals’ quarterback was almost non-existent. Derisively, Cincinnati’s tackles were and are referred to as “revolving doors”.

Not for nothing did Joe Burrow, the first pick in the 2020 draft, have to watch almost half the season. Against Washington, which is known to have excellent pass rushers, defensive end Chase Young fell into the playmaker’s knee, causing Burrow to tear his cruciate and medial ligaments. Whether he would be fit for the start of the season was long up in the air.

That was not the only reason why some experts expected the Bengals to invest in their offensive line with their first pick in the 2021 draft and get tackle Penei Sewell, the best offensive lineman in his class. Cincinnati, however, decided against it and took receiver Ja’Marr Chase.

That Chase set records as a receiver and is essential to the success of the Ohio franchise, but of course he doesn’t help his quarterback block opposing pass rushers.

Values of the O-Line at best average – Vollmer: “You can’t afford it “

The numbers are glorifying: Burrow had to accept 51 sacks in the regular season, that makes more than three per game. By comparison, Tom Brady, the least likely quarterback to be brought down with at least 15 starts, was in the dirt just 22 times, a little more than one sack per game.

Sebastian Vollmer, Brady’s long-time tackle for the New England Patriots, was sharply critical on the ran web show “Champion Check”: “You can’t do that, you can’t allow yourself to do that. Everyone looks at you and asks: ‘What are we actually paying you for?'”

Individually, things don’t look good either. The portal “Pro Football Focus” didn’t list any of the Bengals linemen in the top 20 at the position.

Starting left tackle Jonah Williams, who is thus supposed to protect Burrow’s so-called blind side, allowed 42 pressures on his quarterback alone. With just under 1000 snaps played, that makes one pressure allowed on every 25th snap, or about three per game. And that’s from a single player!

Things are not much better for centre Trey Hopkins. PFF” lists him as the 36th centre out of 40 qualified, and on a scale of 0 to 100 he only receives a rating of 51.9 from the portal.

Constant pressure through the middle or from the blind side or even both together, no quarterback likes that and also explains the amount of sacks against Burrow. All the more impressive, then, that he leads the league in balls attached (70 percent) despite it all.

The Chiefs as a mismatch – yet Bengals are not without a chance

The Cincinnati “hubs” visiting the dominant Kansas City Chiefs defensive front sounds like exactly what it is: a mismatch. Especially defensive tackle Chris Jones, who is one of the best at this position behind Aaron Donald, could cause the aforementioned shaky centre Hopkins a lot of problems.

This duel already took place in week 17. As expected, Burrow was brought down four times. His counterpart, Patrick Mahomes, not once. Nevertheless: In the end, the Bengals won the game 34:31, mainly because the defence came up trumps in the second half and the offensive line held its ground in important moments.

For the visitors from Cincinnati, it will be a matter of using mostly quick passing concepts to give the defence no time at all to get to Burrow. Head coach Zac Taylor saw in the Divisional Round against the Titans what he and his young quarterback usually face.

Without an absolute cream day from everyone involved, it will be very difficult for the Bengals anyway. The five offensive linemen in particular need one. But they have already shown that they have the quality to prevail in certain situations.