Jake Browning remains Bengals’ starting quarterback, but how short is his leash?

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The Bengals have long believed in Jake Browning.

They believed in signing him to the practice squad in 2021.

They believed in him in 2023, naming him the backup and riding with him for the final seven games of a lost season without Joe Burrow.

They believed in him by never even putting his role as a backup into question after bringing in Desmond Ridder during this training camp.

They believed in him after Burrow’s toe injury and not bringing in any experienced competition to challenge his spot.

On Wednesday, head coach Zac Taylor reupped his belief in Browning despite the Bengals being outscored 76-13 in the first two games without Burrow this year.

“I’ve got a ton of confidence in Jake,” Taylor said. “I’m unwavering in that. I’ve seen the best of Jake. I know we can do a great job supporting him to where he can go win games for us. I feel extremely confident in Jake Browning.”

Sounds nice. In some ways, Taylor has to say that. He needs Browning right now. He specifically needs him on Sunday against the dominant Detroit Lions. Things working out with the 29-year-old career backup who’s been in the system for five seasons is the ideal scenario for keeping hope alive without Burrow.

Browning went 4-3 as a starter and played relatively well in 2023, but these last two weeks have been beyond ugly. Distribute blame in whatever direction you like, but when a team produces three points and nine first downs on Monday Night Football, there will be tension. When a quarterback throws five interceptions in 10 quarters, there will be questions. When an offense featuring Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins ranks in the bottom three of the NFL in nearly every major metric, there will be changes.

Browning ranks dead last out of 33 qualifying quarterbacks in EPA/dropback at -0.44. The NFL average is 0.05 and 32nd-ranked Joe Flacco, who was just benched by the Browns, was well ahead at -0.32.

These are the types of performances that cost people jobs. Continued problems would officially flush what is quickly feeling like a lost season.

So the question of the moment becomes: How short is the leash for Browning going forward and what happens when it snaps?

Taylor deflected the idea of needing to add competition at the spot to director of player personnel and de facto GM Duke Tobin.

“I think with every position we are always assessing,” Taylor said. “That’s Duke’s job. That is the personnel department. They do a great job of that. Presenting us options when Joe went down of other guys we could bring in the room as well. We thoroughly exhaust that.”

The Bengals added Brett Rypien at final cuts. They then added Mike White and Sean Clifford to the practice squad when Burrow went to injured reserve in Week 2.

The three quarterbacks combined for one start over the last two years. There’s no world where turning to one of those three keeps real hope alive for an extended period.

The obvious answer would be to consider a trade. The Giants became the latest team to bench Russell Wilson, this time in favor of rookie Jaxson Dart. It would likely take a late-round pick or player to make the deal, but what kind of upgrade are you getting with Wilson, who has now been benched or let go from four teams in five years?

It could be a slight upgrade, and he’d only have $2 million remaining. Maybe he could get nostalgic to the Jeff Blake era in Cincinnati, throwing moonballs to Chase and Higgins like the old Carl Pickens and Darnay Scott days. He’d have to learn a new offense on the fly, and the level of play is known to be suboptimal at this point. Desperate times are the only thing that even makes this a consideration.

Would Russell Wilson be a better quarterback option for the Bengals if they were willing to swing a trade with the Giants for the veteran? (Kevin R. Wexler / Imagn Images)

Kirk Cousins is rotting on the Falcons’ bench. The necessary compensation, Atlanta’s disinterest in moving him and the amount of money the Bengals would need to take on with Cousins’ salary make this an unlikely scenario, even though Cousins would be the best football alternative.

If you are turning over every rock, old friend Andy Dalton, the current backup in Carolina, could likely be acquired. Former starter Derek Carr recently retired because of a shoulder injury, but there could be an inquiry into his recovery and if he’d be interested in one last ride throwing to the Bengals’ stars.

All of these disclaimers add to the fact that Tobin and the Bengals rarely make trades and historically must be forced into a truly desperate situation to give up future assets.

For now, the Bengals are reluctant to make any such move. The focus is on helping Browning and the offense play better. They seek to renew the hope that he could keep the team going near a .500 level and then see how everything shakes out with Burrow and the playoff picture comes clear at season’s end.

Browning led a game-winning drive and produced 24 total points to beat Jacksonville, but nothing since suggests an upward arrow. Only one drive on Monday even crossed into Denver territory, even if that wasn’t all his fault.

Browning tasked himself with taking better care of the football when under pressure, coming off a Minnesota game where he uncorked two interceptions. Coming off the Denver loss, he criticized himself for multiple passes to Higgins where he didn’t keep the pass in bounds against man coverage and give his receiver a chance.

He looks back on the 2023 season, where he played well, and sees a team that stayed ahead of the sticks with the screen game and run game. Screens have been nonexistent and the run game is still a work in progress, to be kind.

Those have made life more difficult, but he’s trying to view each game through the decisions and his points of improvement and less through what’s been disastrous in the big picture of the offense. That is easier said than done.

“I think it’s hard,” he said. “Personally, you are pissed off. You want to score way more points. There’s obviously frustrations with how little production we’ve had on offense. I don’t think anyone is hiding from that. I think you have the personal level and team level of how you approach it. The personal level, remove how you are feeling, go through each play, and are there certain things you are doing that are contributing to the lack of success on offense? For me, it’s giving guys a better chance on some of these deep balls. Then, on a team level, it’s what do you look like walking in the building on Wednesday? Nobody really knows except for yourself when you lay down at night: Did I bring it today on a Wednesday walkthrough when I could have coasted?”

Browning’s never been short of confidence and perspective, and he’s relying heavily on those to pull himself and the team out of this rut. The reality is that it’s a steep climb and the last two weeks have been a painful realization for everyone.

“Nobody feels the outcomes of this more than the players and the coaches in this building,” offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said. “When you go through something like we’ve gone through over the last two weeks, it’s a gut-punch. Viscerally, you feel it.

“You have to turn the page and become problem-solvers very quickly. That’s what we do. That’s our job. How do you respond when you’re in a position where you’re not happy with how you’re playing, you’re embarrassed about how you’re playing? How do you respond? That’s the challenge to our guys. I believe in the character of our players, I believe in the character of our coaches and I believe that we have all of the ability in the building to get this turned around.”

The Bengals are reeling. They can only withstand so many visceral gut-punches until other answers are sought out, or else you lose the locker room. Browning might not deserve that fate, but such is the life of a quarterback.

Cincinnati still believes in Browning and any move would require another level of desperation, but the AFC North sits wide open and as attainable as it has ever been. Whatever it takes to jolt the offense could save the season if it worked, even if none of the options are particularly appealing. For now, looking outward is still not the plan.

Taylor turns inward to himself and improving the offensive plan as a whole and unlocking the Browning they saw in 2023. They’ll worry about what happens if they can’t improve another day.

“We all have to do our part to put ourselves in the best position possible to go score points, and that’s me giving Jake everything he needs, giving the linemen everything they need,” Taylor said. “Really, first and foremost, as the head coach, it’s not a reflection on one player, it’s on me. And so I’ve got to get ourselves in a better position … I’m just saying I think we can all support our quarterback a little bit better.”

(Top photo: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

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