Williams inbox: Who to blame for Cincinnati Bengals missing NFL playoffs

Email and ask me anything − sports or non-sports − and/or let me know if you agree or disagree with a column. I'll pick some of your messages and respond right here each week on Cincinnati.com. Send emails to jwilliams@enquirer.com. Readers have flooded the inbox venting their frustration about the Bengals' season. Here's a small sampling of the messages:

Subject: Cincinnati Bengals defense gashed all season

Message: “This is not a defense we would expect from Lou Anarumo. Your thoughts?”

Reply: Can Joe Burrow tackle, too?

Cover your eyes: The Bengals have allowed 383 yards per game this season, next to last in the league.

But don’t blame Anarumo, the defensive coordinator. The front office did him no favors by letting veteran safeties Jesse Bates and Vonn Bell go as free agents. We’ve gone over this a lot. The Bengals couldn’t afford to keep both players, but they could’ve kept one – and that would’ve made a huge difference in an otherwise young secondary.

Jason Williams: How to judge Cincinnati Bengals season after playoff hopes end in Kansas City

Some inside the organization are beginning to question whether Dax Hill is going to pan out as a starting safety. When the Bengals’ 2022 first-round draft pick hasn’t gotten burned in pass coverage, he’s struggled with where he needs to be on the field. He isn’t the only one. Cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt said the Bengals had communication issues during Sunday’s playoff-eliminating loss in Kansas City.

Red alert!

As Enquirer teammate Kelsey Conway wrote, communication problems shouldn’t be much of an issue in Week 17.

The problems extend beyond the secondary. The Bengals lacked quality depth on the defensive line. Edge rusher Myles Murphy, last year’s first-round pick, was a non-factor all season.

Don’t expect a major overhaul in 2024. The Bengals have so much money invested in their offense, look for them to continue to rely on young players to develop on defense.

Subject: Offensive line pretty bad, too

Message: “This lousy season is so much more than the loss of Joey Football. The offensive line is pathetic. Equally troubling is the inability of the organization to draft quality offensive lineman.”

Reply: Can Burrow block, too?

So much of the Bengals’ problems can be traced to them whiffing on early round offensive line draft picks in recent years. Billy Price and Jackson Carman are among the recent busts, causing a ripple effect that’s ultimately hamstrung other parts of the team.

It’s forced the Bengals to go out and spend $117 million on three free-agent linemen the last two offseasons. This has caused resources to be diverted from allowing the Bengals to re-sign Bates, for example.

The interior part of the line needs upgraded again, particularly at left guard and center. But the whole line is flawed. In crunch time last Sunday, when Cincinnati’s playoff hopes were on the line, the Bengals gave up four sacks on their final drive.

No wonder they’re staying home for the postseason.

It’s time for the Bengals to consider a change at offensive line coach.

Subject: Bengals need new running back

Message: “I write to you because you wisely suggested before training camp that the Bengals part ways with Joe Mixon. But instead, they doubled down with him, endlessly running him up the middle on first down in the team's early losses.

“On Sunday, at the most critical point in the game, the Bengals reaffirmed their allegiance and devotion to Mixon. Straight up the middle again and again and again until they came away with no points. It switched the momentum of the game, and the Bengals never recovered.

“Time for Mixon to go. Or for them to stop running him up the middle for one yard on every first down. It becomes so predictable that it is painful to watch.”

Reply: Predictable is right. Everyone watching the game knew Mixon was going to run the ball up the middle on fourth-and-1 inside the Chiefs’ 10-yard-line in the third quarter. He got stuffed, the Chiefs then took over and drove downfield for a field goal to cut their deficit to 17-16.

That play summed up everything that’s wrong with the Bengals’ offense this season. They've struggled to block. They've struggled to run the ball. And they've made too many questionable redzone play calls.

Subject: Slow start to season haunts Bengals

Message: “The Bengals were 5-4 when Burrow got hurt. If they were 7-2 or 8-1, one could say they were making a Super Bowl run. They were crushed by Tennessee with Burrow. They were 0-3 in the division with Burrow. These slow starts are killers. They can’t count on sweeping the second half of the season. That’s an anomaly even with Burrow. They have to figure out how to prepare better for the start of the season and secure more early wins.”

Reply: Think about this: The Bengals would still be in playoff contention − and in good shape going into Sunday’s home game against a playoff-bound Cleveland team looking to rest its starters – if Cincinnati would have just started the season 2-2 instead of 1-3.

One game makes a huge difference, no matter what point in the season. And no doubt the Week 4 blowout loss against a bad Titans team now haunts the Bengals.

This shows how razor-thin the margin for error is in a hyper-competitive league where most teams are evenly matched and injuries happen. You can’t let up and take it easy, not even in training camp and the preseason like the Bengals have each season under coach Zac Taylor. A slow start was inevitably going to burn them, and here it is.

I don’t see Taylor changing his approach to training camp and the preseason. The players like it. I’d expect Taylor to point to the Bengals’ Super Bowl and AFC Championship game appearances the last two seasons to make his case that it pays off to go easy in August.

This season proved otherwise, though.

Contact Enquirer columnist Jason Williams by email at  jwilliams@enquirer.com.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Who to blame for Cincinnati Bengals missing NFL playoffs