Vontaze Burfict’s Return Won’t Fix All That Ails Reeling Bengals

When the Cincinnati Bengals face the Miami Dolphins Thursday night, they will do so with one of their best defensive players back on the field when Vontaze Burfict makes his 2016 debut after serving a three-game suspension to open the season.

Burfict’s return is good news for the Bengals. It’s also just about the only good news they have received of late, and it isn’t going to magically fix all the problems for a football team that’s one last-minute field goal from beginning the season 0-3.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The Bengals have advanced to the playoffs each of the last five seasons. Last year, the team swept September and October, winning its first eight games. Over the last three seasons, the Bengals have been all about hot starts, going 8-2 in September.

This year, however, has been anything but. Through three games (a win over the New York Jets and losses in Pittsburgh and at home to Denver), the Bengals rank 20th in scoring defense, allowing 25 points per game. That’s more than a touchdown higher than the 17.4 points the second-ranked Bengals defense gave up last year.

Yes, the return of Burfict will help. Even with the addition of veteran Karlos Dansby, Burfict’s arguably the team’s best linebacker, and there’s no argument he’s its most athletic player at the position.

Given his layoff, it’s fair to wonder if conditioning could be an issue, but Burfict told Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he’s ready to go the distance if required:

If the game’s close I feel like I could probably play the full game. But that’s up to them. They’re going to watch me and if they said if I look tired they’re going to pull me out. They don’t want me to get overly exaggerated with too much playing and obviously get hurt or something like that. That’s up to them. I’ll leave it their hands. I’m just going to go out there and play.

When he’s healthy and has his head on straight (an unfortunately rare combination where Burfict’s concerned), he can be a real difference-maker at the linebacker spot. It was Burfict who appeared to salt away last year’s playoff game against the Steelers with an interception of Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

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We won’t go into what happened after the pick. I’m not one to kick a team when it’s down.

Burfict’s return should shore up the Bengals against the run. The Bengals have given up 17 more yards on the ground per game this year than they did in 2015, falling from seventh in the NFL in run defense to 18th.

But the big problem with Burfict’s return is that it doesn’t really do anything to fix the Bengals’ biggest problems.

For starters, while the Cincy run defense hasn’t been the 1985 Bears, it’s …

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