Why Bengals believe leaning less on Joe Burrow gives them a chance to do more

From the podium after the Bengals ' 20-6 win over the Texans , Joe Burrow assessed his performance.

"I was incredibly average today," Burrow said Sunday. "We're going to keep getting better. It was a great win. We did some good things, but a lot to learn from."

Burrow's pair of deep-ball touchdowns to Ja'Marr Chase in Houston were hardly average. And yet, the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback's evaluation of his day at large reflected more than just a quarterback being hard on himself.

The Bengals don't aspire for their quarterback to be "average," per se. And there are pieces around him that need to step up, such as the offensive line allowing Burrow to face blitzes on 37% of dropbacks through two weeks, the highest rate of his career, per Next Gen Stats.

But also: the Bengals don't want Burrow to look like Superman every week, as he has in some years past.

More precise: They don't want him to need to.

"You talk about when are the appropriate times to have that dial turned toward 'I have to be a playmaker' versus one of the times to have that dial turned forward, 'I have to mange this football game and keep myself upright,'" Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher told Yahoo Sports during training camp. "That's a discussion I think you always have to have. And for great, talented players, they have to think about that a lot."

Pitcher said that Burrow, whose offense has outperformed its defensive counterpart throughout his Bengals career, thinks about that often.

"The goal would be that we create a team, all three phases, that allows us to be in fewer situations where [Burrow] feels like, 'I have to go make this play come hell or high water.'"

Two games is hardly a representative sample size. But through two games, the Bengals' defense has provided Burrow with more reason to believe than they have in at least four campaigns.

After ranking 31st of 32 in yardage allowed last season and 30th in points allowed, Cincinnati ranks 16th in yards allowed and eighth in scoring defense through two weeks.

The Bengals traded the 10th overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft for defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II in April. They also collected key offseason acquisitions, including safety Bryan Cook , outside linebacker Boye Mafe and defensive tackle Jonathan Allen .

The group is changing the Bengals' defensive reputation week by week — and changing how Burrow considers in-game scenarios.

"You just play a little more conservative," Burrow said after the Texans game. "Those guys have been great. When you have that rush and that coverage, you try not to mess it up."

Burrow fantasy owners may regret that the quarterback who led the NFL two years ago (his last fully healthy season) by passing for 4,918 yards and 43 touchdowns may not actually be chasing similar numbers.

But the Bengals believe this formula gives them a better chance at contending for the Super Bowl as it returns to Los Angeles ' SoFi Stadium, home of the Bengals' last big-stage appearance. They believe alleviating Burrow's burden increases the chances he finishes the season healthy, as he enters this year having missed at least six games in three of his six prior seasons.

"Throwing for all these yards and scoring all these points, sure, that's good," Pitcher said. "But unless we're playing for division championships and playoff seeds, and playing in January and February, that's the only thing that really matters now.

"I really feel that from Joe and some of the other guys as well."

Burrow on Lawrence: 'Dex really set the tone'

To improve from a bottom-three defense, the bar is low.

To maintain it for two weeks could prove to be a mirage at season's end.

But the Bengals don't expect their new-look defense to falter.

Perhaps the Texans won't rebound to a strong offensive year. But the Bengals held Houston to 6 points one week after the Buffalo Bills allowed Houston 31. The Bengals limited the Texans to a 29.41% third-down success rate and reduced QB C.J. Stroud 's completion percentage 14 points from a week prior.

The absence of receiver Nico Collins (hamstring) likely explains some of the divergence, Collins accounting for 75 yards and a touchdown against the Bills. But does that fully account for the Texans dropping from 4-of-5 in the red zone to 0-of-4?

The Texans did not reach the end zone at all, breaking the Bengals' 65-game streak allowing touchdowns. (The Bills now hold that record at 47 games, per Next Gen Stats, after the Bengals kept an opponent from scoring a touchdown for the first time since Week 3 of the 2022 NFL season).

The Bengals seemed at risk of allowing another score halfway through the second quarter on Sunday, when Stroud hit running back David Montgomery for 8 yards on third-and-9. All Houston needed was inches to convert the first down from the Bengals' 17-yard line, a chance to score in a scoreless game.

Lawrence had other plans. He slipped through his block quickly, finding Montgomery in the backfield for the loss of a yard. Turnover on downs. Bengals ball.

"Dex really set the tone on that first fourth-and-1, getting that big stop … " Burrow said. "He set the tone for the rest of the day."

Burrow marched down the field with passes of 18 and 23 yards to Tee Higgins , before delivering a 32-yard pass to Ja'Marr Chase in the front right corner of the end zone. An acrobatic Chase eluded Texans All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. , dragging his feet in the end zone as he spun before falling out of bounds.

Burrow escaped the pocket in the third quarter to again find Chase, this time on an 18-yard touchdown threaded between defenders.

The highlights looked as good as ever, but with 10 failed third-down conversions and two drives stalling in favor of a field goal, the Bengals also had dry spells. That didn't keep them from pressing after their defense allowed 28.9 points per game last season.

A year after ranking dead-last by allowing 147.1 rushing yards per game, the Bengals currently rank third, allowing 74.5.

Lawrence has proven a key factor there, the Bengals limiting the Texans to 1 rushing yard per carry on 12 run snaps with Lawrence in the game compared to 8 yards per carry on the six without him, per Next Gen Stats.

And he's far from the only Bengals defender making plays. Teammates Jonathan Allen, Cedric Johnson (twice) and Shemar Stewart each sacked Stroud. Cornerback Dax Hill, safety Jordan Battle , cornerback DJ Turner II and nickel Jalen Davis deflected passes. Linebacker Barrett Carter , Allen, Johnson and Stewart joined Lawrence in registering tackles for loss. And six defenders posted quarterback hits.

"They've lived up to the hype through [two] weeks," Burrow told reporters Wednesday. "But just as we've talked about at our games and in here — it's two weeks. We're still in September. We're not even close to where we want to be, nor is anybody.

"2-0 isn't gonna get anything done in this league. Got to keep going."

What 0-2 history teaches Burrow about 2-0

The need to keep momentum going was evident at the Bengals' Aug. 3 training camp practice, as Cincinnati's defense outplayed its offense in a sign that this year might be different.

From Lawrence through the defensive backs, an energy simmered.

"Honestly, he's been terrorizing practice," Chase told Yahoo Sports from his locker afterward. "They terrorizing practice. DBs playing with confidence behind. …

"It definitely gives us confidence to see."

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers , whom the Bengals will face on the road this Sunday, used the same buzzword to describe what he sees on film.

"They're playing with a lot of confidence," Rodgers said, "and it will be a good test for us."

The Steelers' offense has looked far from confident, coming off a 20-3 loss to the Patriots in which Rodgers was pressured on 38.6% of his dropbacks, the second-highest rate since he joined the Steelers last season, per Next Gen Stats.

The 3 points tied the second-fewest of Rodgers' 259 career starts, per Next Gen Stats.

The Bengals travel to Pittsburgh as 3.5-point road favorites for their first divisional matchup.

At stake: Cincinnati's first 3-0 start since 2015.

Burrow knows the Steelers' defense won't be shy at pressuring him nor batting his passes, describing T.J. Watt 's pick 6 vs. Atlanta in Week 1 as "crazy" but "certainly not lucky." The Steelers claim responsibility for a league-high 10 of Burrow's 52 career interceptions, the Steelers also forcing five Burrow fumbles (three lost) across 11 games.

So while the defensive makeover should reassure the Steelers of a more evenly distributed load, and more cushion for games in which Burrow feels he played "incredibly average," Burrow cautions against overconfidence because of a 2-0 start.

"We've been 0-2 before and rattled off 10 in a row," he said. "We can do the same the other way. So, we just got to keep going."