The Cincinnati Bengals spent the majority of training camp trying to get better at playing under-center offensively.
Somehow, all of that preparation has actually made them worse at it.
The Bengals are currently dead last in the entire league when going under-center. They are averaging just 3.3 yards per play from under-center. For comparison, they averaged 5.1 yards per play from under-center during the 2025 season.
Their running game has not been effective, Joe Burrow does not typically look as comfortable
having to operate play-action passes, and they are going under-center at a 54% higher rate than they were during last season. All of that adds up to a more ineffective offense than what we have seen from Cincinnati in the past.
At what point do the Bengals just decide to completely scrap under-center unless they have a lead late in the game? To me, it feels like we are getting closer to seeing that happen. If anything, I would like the Bengals to incorporate some up-tempo offense earlier in the game. This team is built to play with a lead. They have the pass rush now to get after quarterbacks, and all of the under-center stuff should be more effective when you have a lead to play with.
Theoretically, under-center should help your offense be more effective. It should open up play-action, and it should help keep your quarterback from having to throw the ball 54 times a game.
In reality, it actually doesn’t help this team. It keeps them from getting an early lead, the running game is even more bogged down than it is from shotgun, and Joe Burrow is at his best when he can see everything in front of him directly off of the snap.
The Bengals will play in Miami this week and be looking to get back in the win column. If they try to continue going under-center a lot, they might just give Miami the confidence they need to get their first win of the season.
Regardless of how that game turns out, the Bengals will have to seriously self-scout themselves during the bye week on what type of offense they plan to run primarily going forward. As of right now, I don’t know why they would keep trying to beat a dead horse by using more under-center offense that just isn’t working.
