CINCINNATI – Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning said he isn’t going to sulk or pout about getting benched, but he made one thing clear:
He’s pissed.
“If I wasn’t pissed, then I shouldn’t be in this locker room,” Browning said the day after the Bengals traded for Joe Flacco to replace him in the wake of a three-game losing streak in which the team was outscored by 77 points.
“I’m aware of the role I played in the offensive struggles over the last few weeks,” Browning said. “But I’m also not shouldering the entire situation.
“There’s a lot of different things that need to go into an offense doing well, and one of them is the quarterback taking care of the ball. But there’s a lot of things that go into it.”
Browning completed 80 of 124 passes for 757 yards with six touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Three of his interceptions came Sunday against the Lions, leading to the team falling behind 28-3 after losing 48-10 to the Vikings and 28-3 to the Broncos the previous two games.
Despite a 21-point fourth quarter, the Bengals coaches and front office had seen enough to know the locker room was losing confidence in Browning and something needed to be done.
“I think it sucks, but welcome to pro football,” Browning said. “If you don’t play well, you’re gonna get replaced. That’s what I’m going through.
I need to limit some turnovers. But I think there’s a lot of other things that kind of contributed to our lack of offensive production. I can point to the Denver game where I did take care of the ball, and we put up three points.
“I’m not dumb or arrogant enough to think I didn’t play my role in the offensive struggles, but there’s a lot that goes into it,” he continued. “But I think there’s a lot of other things that kind of contributed to our lack of offensive production.”
Browning said he knew the Bengals were exploring trade options Monday, and he was informed by Taylor before the trade was finalized Tuesday that they were going in a different direction.
“I’m not gonna walk around sulking because one, no one cares how you’re feeling about it. It is what it is,” he said. “And two, I’ve got a little more pride than that to just be sulking around everywhere. So I’m just staying prepared and doing what I’ve got to do.”
Helping Flacco get up to speed is not on that to-do list.
But not because he isn’t willing.
“My understanding is that’s the coaches job to get him ready,” Browning said. “I’m learning the gameplan, too, so as far as my role and all that, I’m a player. So I’m just getting ready in case I need to go in.”
Browning said he’s heard tough news in the past, such as when he’s been cut.
But this one cuts a little different.
“It’s probably the most public,” he said. “When I’ve gotten cut and stuff like that, I didn’t have to do media after. They just cut you and move on.
“I’m familiar with the business side of it. It’s not completely foreign to me,” he continued. “But it sucks.”
Losing his job in such a public manner and coming to grips what it could mean for his long-term future in the league is a lot to process in a span of 24 hours.
But Browning said he is focused on handling the bad news as well as he can.
“The general theme for myself is anybody that’s going through some adversity, whether it’s football or personal stuff, if you go through it and deal with it the right way, there’s no way you don’t come out the other end a better version of who you were,” he said. “For me, I’m trying to respond the right way.”
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