Bengals OC calls struggles unacceptable: Cincy has 'too many good players'

The Cincinnati Bengals claimed their second straight victory in Week 6, but that seemingly isn't enough for offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, who criticized the team Monday.

"Just fuming. We have too many good coaches, too many good players to not play to our standard that we have set for ourselves," Callahan said after Sunday's 17-13 win over the Seattle Seahawks, according to Jay Morrison of Pro Football Network. "That was addressed. Everybody had their moment in the barrel today."

The Bengals had a solid start against the Seahawks and scored 14 points in the first two quarters. However, Cincinnati slowed down in the second half and struggled to move the ball. Its defense ultimately came up clutch in the fourth quarter to help seal the win.

"We're as talented as anybody in football," Callahan said. "Talent's never gonna be the answer in the NFL. Everyone's got it."

"But if you walk out and just think that your roster's gonna beat somebody - and not your execution and the attention to detail and all the things that matter - you're gonna get beat," he added. "And people are gonna beat you by a lot. You get humbled pretty quickly if you think that's how it's gonna work."

Led by Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase, Cincy rosters some of the NFL's best young players. The Bengals began this season 0-2 and now enter their bye week 3-3. Cincinnati's offense ranks 25th in EPA per play, 27th in points scored, and 32nd in total yards.

"I don't like to be last in anything," Callahan added. "We're not producing enough, we're not scoring enough, and you can really cut it by any metric you want to cut it. We're just not playing a good enough brand of football that we’ve been accustomed to playing at this point."

Burrow battled a calf injury earlier this season but recently said he's almost back to being fully healthy. Since being drafted first overall in 2020, he's helped the Bengals become an AFC powerhouse. They reached the conference title game in each of the last two years and also made one Super Bowl appearance while winning 22 regular-season games in that span.

Cincinnati will visit the San Francisco 49ers in Week 8.

The Bengals also had a 3-3 record six weeks into the 2022 season before winning nine of their last 10 games en route to winning the AFC North title.