A Midseason Rollercoaster: A Look into The Bengals Mistake-Ridden Season

A season overflowed with blunders, dramatic losses, and season-ending injuries, it seems like the Bengals' initial ambitious playoff aspirations have come to a devastating end. What began as a hopeful season with a 2-0 record in the first two weeks, a first in the Zac Taylor era, quickly crumbled after star quarterback Joe Burrow suffered a toe turf injury during Week Two’s matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Backup quarterback Jake Browning showed great potential in leading the team in place of Burrow during Week Two’s game. However, the uncertainty of Burrow’s return and the team’s apparent reliance on their franchise quarterback triggered a snowball effect of poor performances that ultimately derailed Cincinnati’s season. The initially promising narrative at the start of the 2025 NFL season has taken a sudden and sombering turn.

Entering the Bye Week with a 3-6 record, and are currently ranked at the bottom of the competitive AFC North, Bengals fans and the team alike have felt immense frustration at the poor performance from the whole team. During the Week Three matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, Cincinnati faced a franchise record 48-10 defeat, a week after what seemed like a promising and poised performance by their backup quarterback. This game shed a spotlight on the team’s weakness in their overreliance on their franchise quarterback; their offense struggled throughout the game to replicate that high-level offensive attack they were running in the first two weeks without a top-tier quarterback. The devastating loss against the Vikings was seemingly the start of the “Bengal Blues”, where Cincinnati lost for four consecutive weeks from Week Three to Week Six. In that time, they faced a 28-3 loss against the Denver Broncos the following week, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase expressed his frustrations at his team and his coach on and off record. It was paramount that Cincinnati needed to make a change in their lineup as Browning failed to perform, placing not just their playoff aspirations in jeopardy but their season as a whole. The growing frustrations from the team itself and the intense pressure from spectators led them to make a critical trade with the Cleveland Browns for their veteran quarterback Joe Flacco in hopes that this trade would be the solution to their faltering season. 

During Flacco’s debut in Week Six’s game against the Green Bay Packers, he brought a glimmer of hope that he could be the key to salvaging the Bengals’ season. That boost in morale led them to a stunning victory in Week Seven against the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, that victory was only momentary; the excitement and determination generated from their first win after four consecutive losses quickly evaporated as they faced a frustrating last-minute defeat against the New York Jets. They left Week Eight behind with a final score of 39-38, setting them up at an unfavorable 3-5 record. 

It was critical that the Bengals needed to secure a victory the following week against the Chicago Bears, whom they assumed they had an advantage over, due to the Bears' perceived “weak” defence. There was intense pressure for the team to perform as well as pressure on the coaching staff to confirm or deny Flacco’s position on the team as he endured a shoulder injury during the game against the Jets. During this game, wide receiver Charlie Jones’s impressive 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the opening play placed the Bengals at a 7–0 lead. What started hopeful, once again ended with much frustration for all parties involved; this game marked the sixth time, including last season, where Cincinnati scored at least 30 points without securing the victory. 

With Cincinnati’s star quarterback out for the season and an evident issue with consistency on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, spectators have called head coach Zac Taylor’s leadership into question. Taylor has taken the initiative to accept responsibility for the team’s struggles; at the same time, despite mass scrutiny, he has chosen to back his staff, stating, “We all know we've got to play better as a football team. There's been challenges our offense has faced over the course of the season. We've worked through them. We're playing better for it. There's challenges our defense is facing right now. I'm confident that we're going to work through it. We're going to play better football and find a way to win some games.” 

Midway through the 2025 season, the Bengals’ crippling lack of consistency and composure from start to finish is jarring and has evidently derailed their initial playoff hopes. Their season has unfortunately been defined not by the impressive milestones, like Joe Flacco becoming the oldest quarterback to throw for over 450 yards or Charlie Jones setting a franchise record for kickoff return yards in a single game, but by the glaring defensive shortcomings and the team’s profound inability to secure victories in games where they should have won. Most importantly, this season is riddled with contradictions: a veteran-led offense that has proven to deliver impressive shoot-out scoring, completely undermined by a defense that ranks last in key metrics. Although Zac Taylor has publicly accepted responsibility and backed his staff, the team’s 3-6 record has seemingly demolished their hopes to prove themselves as a legitimate contender for the playoffs. Ultimately, the narrative of the Bengals' 2025 NFL season is not focused on the misfortune of Joe Burrow’s injury, but of a structural collapse that could not withstand the weight of major championship expectations.