There are so many stats that are out there on the 2025 Cincinnati Bengals that are just hard to fathom. At the same time, they’re also not hard to fathom.
This Bengals team is a failed experiment. The front office told us that by making a few minor tweaks, along with Zac Taylor making us believe that bringing in a new defensive coaching staff, all the bad luck from 2024 would right itself in 2025.
Wrong. If anything, the bad luck from 2024, or so we thought, was a precursor to what this season would be like.
Remember all those blown fourth-quarter leads and missed opportunities last season? Well, the Bengals have been worse in the fourth quarter this season.
The Bengals have allowed 14+ points in the fourth quarter in five straight games. Mind you, Joe Flacco has started all five of those games.
Previously, they gave up 17 in Green Bay, 14 in the first meeting with Pittsburgh, 23 against the Jets, and 16 against the Bears.
The streak of five in a row breaks the previous single-season record of four shared by eight teams, including the 2025 New York Giants.
The others (with final win-loss record):
2017 Colts (4-12)
2009 Rams (1-15)
1996 Ravens (4-12)
1986 Broncos (11-5)
1964 49ers (4-10)
1961 Raiders (2-12)
1950 Colts (1-11)
Only one of those teams finished with a winning record. The 1986 Broncos played in Super Bowl XXI, courtesy of the legendary “The Drive” authored by John Elway in the AFC Championship.
The Bengals have allowed 84 points in the fourth quarter over their last five games. That’s an average of 16.8 points per fourth quarter. How does that not lead to any changes? That’s almost three scores per quarter! So, the same “bad luck” in the fourth quarter last year is worse this season. Way worse.
The 2022 Colts also gave up 84 in a five-game span, as did the 1980 Seahawks.
Two teams prior to the Super Bowl era had more:
1965 Oilers, 92
1948 Lions, 89
The Bengals are on pace to allow 175 points in the fourth quarter this year.
The only team in NFL history to give up more fourth-quarter points was the 2020 Raiders, who allowed 176 in a 16-game season for a per-game average of 11.0.
The Bengals would need to surrender 188 points this year to be worse than the 2020 Raiders’ per-game average.
This defense is beyond embarrassing. It’s a disgrace and humiliation on a lot of levels.
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