After the 2024 season was over, I said that 50 years from now, we’ll look back and realize how freakish the Cincinnati Bengals’ season was that year. I highly doubt any team will ever have a quarterback that puts up Joe Burrow’s numbers, a wide receiver that wins the Triple Crown, and a defensive end that leads the regular seasons in sacks and still miss the playoffs.
I can now say the same thing about the Bengals’ Week-9 loss to the Bears. I don’t think we will ever see a team, down by 14, score 15 points in less than a minute while recovering an onside kick, and then still lose in the final seconds.
This isn’t about the fact that the Bengals missed the playoffs in 2024, partially because their defense was terrible, and then in 2025, it’s worse.
I mean, it is, but it isn’t.
What this is about is the Bengals’ response to two of the ugliest losses any franchise could possibly suffer in back-to-back weeks.
Actually, it’s about their lack of response.
In the last two weeks, the Bengals’ offense, with 40-year-old Joe Flacco under center, has put up 80 points. In both of those games, the Bengals led their opponent in the fourth quarter, and in both games, the team’s defense allowed the Jets and then the Bears to retake the lead and win in the final moments.
Instead of going into the bye week with a 5-4 or even 4-5 record, they go into it with a 3-6 record and a 2% chance to make it to the playoffs.
And if Joe Burrow were healthy? They’re probably 6-3, but it’s painfully obvious they aren’t contenders, and they may not be a playoff team.
So, at worst, we suffer through loss after loss, and the Bengals land themselves a top-10 draft pick. At best, they’re exactly who they were last year.
Either way, nothing will change.
How do I know that?
Because nothing changed on Monday morning after the loss to the Bears. At a MINIMUM, Al Golden needed to be fired. Something needed to be done so Mike Brown could send a message to every single coach, player, and, most importantly, fan that he sees the product on the field, he knows it’s not good enough, and he’s going to do something about it.
What we got after these two losses instead was nothing.
When running back Chase Brown expressed frustration at being a part of an offense that scored 80 points by saying the Bengals’ defense needs to “finish the f*cking game,” head coach Zac Taylor decided to chastise his running back instead of, you know, agreeing with him.
So, to be clear, the message from the front office, the fake general manager, the head coach, and his staff is as follows:
There’s nothing to see here.
Any other team loads up its entire coaching staff in a rocket ship and fires it directly into the sun.
The Bengals aren’t any other team.
The Bengals are the team that kept Marvin Lewis, the human embodiment of mediocrity, for SIXTEEN seasons of him winning NOTHING before they decided to go in another direction.
They let the defensive side of the roster stagnate and then pointed the finger at Lou Anarumo.
They had a historically bad defense in 2024, and somehow didn’t learn their lesson, because they’ve rolled a defense that is worse out on the field.
This is the same front office that gave us the Lost Decade of the 1990s.
The same one that let Carson Palmer get beaten into submission until he demanded a trade.
The same one that’s letting Joe Burrow become one of the most hit quarterbacks in football, year after year.
The same one that let Jessie Bates III, DJ Reader, and too many others walk.
The same one that operates with one of the smallest scouting departments in professional sports—and it shows, because most of their recent draft picks just aren’t very good.
It’s the front office, and that’s why things won’t change. It’s not like Mike Brown is going to fire himself, or his daughter, or son-in-law. It’s not like he’s going to fire Duke Tobin, whose father worked as a scout for the Bengals for 20 years. The best we’ll get is that Brown will fire Taylor, but then he’ll bring in another head coach who won’t threaten his control over the team and the bank account.
Here’s what I’m saying: Mike Brown and the Blackburn family have been made billionaires by the city of Cincinnati, and he’s given Bengals fans nothing. He isn’t really interested in doing what’s necessary to win Super Bowls. If he was, he would do what’s necessary. Instead, he’s more interested in being competitive and hoping that’s enough to keep butts in the seats and the money rolling in.
Nothing will change until the seats are empty or there’s a philosophical shift in how the Bengals’ front office approaches how they build football teams.
- Bad teams invent new ways to lose. The Bengals are a bad team, and we’re running out of new material.
- The best thing they could do now—aside from firing coaches and hiring a real GM—is trade Trey Hendrickson, Logan Wilson, McKinnley Jackson, and anyone else who wants out. They’re not making the playoffs. Start building for 2026.
- They won’t, of course. Doing the logical thing isn’t really their style.
- When Jordan Battle was asked if the message on Monday in practice was any different, he said, “No comment. Team meeting.” When Taylor was asked the same question, he said, “You’d have to ask the players that, I guess.” Who exactly is being held accountable for the last two losses? Is it the players? The coaches? It doesn’t seem to be anyone.
- The Bengals’ defensive players laughing off interview requests after their epic collapse is absolute cowardice.
- The title of last week’s Tuesday Trenches was “Rock Bottom.” Obviously, things got worse. Is this rock bottom? I’m somehow thinking not.
- That win over Pittsburgh? Probably more about the Steelers’ flaws than the Bengals’ strengths. I don’t think the Steelers are a top-four team in the AFC—but I still think they’re better than the Bengals. And I doubt Cincinnati beats them a second time.
- After the bye, the Bengals have the Steelers, Bills, Patriots, and Ravens (with Lamar Jackson) twice. Each one of those teams has the potential to score 60 points against the Bengals.
- I feel bad for DJ Turner.
- Being a Bengals fan can be soul sucking.
- Carson Palmer may not have been right to force his way out, but I’m done pretending he was a villain. We all know who the real villains are.
I know you’re tired
And you ain’t sleeping well
Uninspired
And likely mad as hell
But wherever you are
I hope the high road leads you home again
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