Week 5 will be a test of how deep Cincinnati's receiver room actually goes — and the answer, right now, is not very.

Chase remains in the concussion protocol and Higgins is questionable with the adductor. I've been tracking this all week. What's changed is the practical consequence: Zac Taylor's staff now has to build a game plan around receivers who barely registered in the first four weeks. The depth chart at wideout going into this season had only one receiver with meaningful playing time — Higgins — and Chase ranked third by that measure. Strip both of them out and what's left is thin in a way that's hard to dress up.

Mike Gesicki and Drew Sample give Burrow some options at tight end, and Chase Brown remains available out of the backfield — he caught 69 passes last season and can function as a release valve. But that's a different offense than what Cincinnati built. Burrow operating without his two primary targets isn't a minor adjustment; it's a structural problem. The Bengals spent last season getting outscored in ways that cost them close games, and the margin for error with a stripped passing attack is even narrower.

My read: the next week tells you something real about this team's floor. If Higgins clears the adductor and plays, Cincinnati can manage. If he doesn't, Burrow is working with options that haven't been tested at this level. That's the actual question heading into Sunday.