Not too long ago, the Cincinnati Bengals were in a Super Bowl with a chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. A year later, they lost a tough playoff battle to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship. It looked like they were going to be a constant threat in the AFC for years to come. That, however, has just not been the case.
The Bengals last year started the year off 4-8 and finished 9-8, barely missing the playoffs. In most cases, that calls for optimism heading into the next season. For this team, though, slow starts have been a common theme in the Joe Burrow era.
Burrow’s rookie year in 2020 was cut short due to injury, so that can be thrown out. In the four years since, the Bengals have started 2-2 or worse in three of the four years. In 2022, it was 2-2; in 2023 and 2024, the record was 1-3.
Cincinnati found themselves behind the eight ball in both 2023 and 2024. In 2023, Burrow injured his hand in week 11 and missed the rest of the season. They were 5-5 at that point.
Had the Bengals started better, they could have been 6-4 or even 7-3 and been in a much better position to still make the postseason. They finished the season 9-8 and finished last in the AFC North. Had they won just one more game earlier, the playoffs would have been realistic. It was the same in 2024.
The Bengals started 1-3 and finished 9-8. They, once again, played catch-up the entire season, this time with a healthy Burrow, but it was too little too late. The worst part about the early-season losses was that they were against inferior opponents
In Week one, from 2022-2024, Cincinnati played the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, and New England Patriots, respectively. They loot all these games. On paper, the Bengals were better and were favored to win all these games. The result of what happened is unacceptable.
2021 was the only year the Bengals had a good start, going 3-1, and they ended up in the Super Bowl.
In 2021 and 2022, Bengal’s defense was the most underrated part of the team. They gave quarterbacks such as Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen a lot of problems in the playoffs. They were a big reason why Cincy was able to make the 21-3 comeback in Arrowhead in January of 2022.
Fast forward two years, and the Bengal can’t stop anyone. The numbers are mind-boggling. In 2024, they were ranked 25th in scoring defense and 25th in yards per game allowed. Joe Burrow threw for 43 touchdowns to just nine interceptions with 4,918 yards and a 70.6% completion, and the team managed to win just nine games.
Cincinnati lost games where they scored 25, 33, 38(2x), and 34 points in a game. Had the defense been solid in just one of those games, they would have made the postseason.
To make things worse, management is neglecting that side of the ball. They paid Tee Higgins a four-year, $115 million contract in March, making him the eighth-highest-paid receiver in the NFL. As a result, the Bengals were unable to pay Trey Hendrickson, the Bengals’ best defensive player, who led the league in sacks.
Hendrickson had a holdout at the beginning of Bengals Training Camp but ended it recently. Even then, how happy will he be on the team this year, and will that affect his production? The Bengals should have prioritized Hendrickson over Higgins because their offense is good enough to overcome losing their number two receiver.
The already bad Cincy defense might be worse without Hendrickson. The Bengals drafted a safety, but that won’t be enough, and they have done nothing in free agency to bolster the defense. The Bengals just signed Tight End Noah Fant, so it seems like they are all in on outscoring their opponents for the second straight year.
Maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Bengals have always been a cheap franchise, which explains their extended period of mediocrity. They struck gold with Burrow at QB and still have managed to mishandle that.
The offensive line was bad when Burrow got there and is still an issue today. The franchise refuses to be proactive, and it is going to cost them an opportunity they may never get again.
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