Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher hinted at notable changes to his team's offense in 2026.
"How are we going to be a really explosive offense? The data would suggest you got to have a component of your offense that allows you to get under center and attack the defense," Pitcher said, according to The Athletic's Paul Dehner Jr.
"I believe in what those numbers say, and we are going to have to explore that part of our offense."
The Bengals have been one of the most shotgun-heavy offenses in the NFL. During the club's three-year playoff drought from 2023-25, Cincinnati utilized the shotgun formation more than any other team, according to TruMedia. Joe Burrow's 111 under-center plays rank 27th out of 29 quarterbacks who've played at least 30 games since 2023.
Cincinnati placed 23rd in under-center snaps from 2021-22 and reached back-to-back conference title games in those two years. The Bengals fell to the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl during the 2021 campaign.
"We were heavy under center in 2020, 2021, and that worked out well for us," Burrow said. "But then we were so explosive that we stopped getting the defenses that the under-center runs and the under-center play-actions were built for."
He added, "Then we transitioned to a gun team and our run game because of our RPOs and our quick game, basically. And the run game was kind of the icing on the cake because of that. And that was effective for a couple of years."
Burrow is entering his seventh season in the league after being selected first overall in the 2020 draft. He played in just eight games last year due to a toe injury and threw for 1,809 yards with 17 touchdowns against five interceptions.
Cincinnati will begin training camp July 25 and open its season versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 13.
