Zac Taylor: Bengals performance during loss to Titans ‘unacceptable’

The Cincinnati Bengals lost in very disappointing fashion to the Tennessee Titans 27-3 on Sunday. Head coach Zac Taylor was extremely displeased with the way the entire team played.

“This was unacceptable today,” he said. “I have all the confidence that we got everything in this locker room to get right, to get back on track next week. But, disappointing. This is not the expectation we had going into this game. Tennessee controlled the game really from start to finish. They executed and beat us in every situation. Hats off to them, they out played us today. More discipline, more physical.”

Looking at the stats on offense and defense, Taylor is right. The Bengals were beat in every single aspect of the game on both sides of the ball. Joe Burrow completed 67 percent of his passes, but it was only good for 165 yards with no touchdowns. Cincinnati’s offense was outgained by a total yardage of 211 to 400 by the Titans.

With a 1-3 record, things aren’t looking promising right now, especially since many of the positive signs seen in the past few games were absent from the Bengals’ play today. Taylor believes not converting on third down was one of their biggest issues. They were two for nine on third downs.

“It extends the drive, gets more touches, gets your O-line more rhythm, and we just didn’t do that. Two of nine, you are not extending any drives. So, everything has got to be perfect on first or second down and that’s hard right now.”

Next week the Bengals head to Arizona to face off against a Cardinals team that despite a 1-3 record has been overperforming expectations, beating the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3.

“Again, I’ve got so much confidence in this team that we’re going to respond to this the right way,” Taylor said. “I said this in here many years before, It’s a long season. We have to continue to improve.”

Zac Taylor and Joe Burrow speak to the media. https://t.co/KwbPGqFCaj

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 1, 2023