With a long week to prepare for a Week 4 Monday Night Football matchup at Denver, the Cincinnati Bengals are focused on improving their offensive scheme that totaled 171 yards in a 48-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

For many members of the team, it was the worst loss in their careers and a feeling they won’t want to experience again.

What happened at U.S. Bank Arena in Minneapolis was the result of a number of factors, some controllable, some not.

At this point in the season, while already facing a number of questions, the team is focusing on controlling what it can control.

Ja’Marr Chase feels responsibility to lead the offense

The Bengals had five turnovers in Week 3, leading to 31 points for Minnesota. Chase fumbled the ball with 1:31 left in the second quarter during a major momentum swing that saw the Vikings take a 31-point lead into halftime.

He said the best thing the team can do after that kind of offensive performance is to hold each other accountable.

Outside of his 14-catch, 165-yard performance against the Jaguars, Chase has seven receptions for 76 yards in two games this year. The only other prolonged stretch of his career where he had a dip in production was weeks eight through 14 of his rookie season in 2021, when he totaled 33 receptions for 284 yards and four touchdowns.

He will have another tough matchup this week when he goes up against 2024 Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain. Despite Surtain’s credentials through four years in the NFL, Chase sees him as just another opponent.

“Just how patient he is. He’s really good, really patient, a tall corner and he’s long,” Chase said.

When Chase was matched up against Surtain in Week 17 in 2024, he had three catches for 27 yards.

Chase also noted that the Bengals are seeing a lot of six strong defensive schemes so far, a zone defense that overloads the strong side and drops into coverage to protect against the pass game. The most effective way to draw teams away from six strong coverage is to establish the run game.

That’s a tough ask when the Bengals only have 147 rushing yards so far, ranking last in the NFL. If they only had 53 rushing yards against a Minnesota team that is allowing 130 rushing yards per game this year, how will they get the run game going against the Broncos, who are allowing 115 yards per game on the ground?

“Physicality, finishing our blocks, executing properly with the right fundamentals,” offensive lineman Orlando Brown Jr. said. “A lot of times, being successful in the run game, it comes down to guys putting a hat on a hat. We’ve got two or three backs that are really good football players and have been in this league for a while.”

Tee Higgins’s 2024 performance against Denver serves as motivation to kickstart his 2025 campaign

Through three games, Higgins has only seven catches for 104 yards and a touchdown. It’s his slowest start to a healthy season since he was a rookie in 2020.

“I know it’s gonna come my way. I’ve always been like that. When the ball comes my way, I just gotta make a play and take advantage of every opportunity that I get,” Higgins said.

With many wondering if he would be a Bengal after 2024 and the team in the midst of a playoff race, Higgins had one of the best games of his career against the Broncos in Week 17 of the 2024 season, catching 11 passes for 131 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winner in overtime.

That game, as well as a primetime opportunity to stay at the top of the AFC North, serve as all the hype and motivation that he needs.

“It’s Monday Night Football, man! It can’t get better than that. I grew up watching it. It’s gonna be fun,” Higgins said.

Despite Joe Burrow’s injury, a less-than-stellar run game and early changes to the offensive line, head coach Zac Taylor believes that Higgins will see a positive regression to the mean.

“It’s a long season. I think you can say that for a lot of our guys. It’s been, unorthodox is not the right word, but the first three games of the season have just been a strange thing.  You just continue to evolve as the season goes. We don’t look at that as what defines us. That’s what we’re gonna be. Statistically it’s gonna continue on this trend. None of that. It’s finding your identity as a team, offense and defense early in the season, trying to find wins while you’re doing that. And again, your team will continue to evolve. Things take shape. Everything evens out. We’ve got great players. Over a 17-game regular season, it’s all gonna take its shape and even out,” Taylor said on Sept. 25.

Chase and Higgins have gone over 100 yards in the same game just twice during their time in Cincinnati: Week 17 in 2024 and Week 16 in 2021.

In Jake Browning’s eight starts, Chase has 34 catches for 423 yards and a touchdown. Higgins has 16 catches for 343 yards and three touchdowns.