If you thought things felt different for the Bengals during January of 2022, you wouldn’t have been wrong. That month started with the Bengals clinching the AFC North with a victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, who, at the time, were the two-time reigning AFC Champions and had won eight straight games coming into that first Sunday of 2022 at Paul Brown Stadium.
Two weeks later, the Bengals broke a 31-year drought without a playoff victory by beating the Las Vegas Raiders on a memorable and cathartic interception by Germaine Pratt. One week later, the Bengals overcame the Tennessee Titans, sacking Joe Burrow nine times, and won their first road playoff game in franchise history on a 52-yard field goal by rookie kicker Evan McPherson.
Then, in the AFC Championship at Kansas City —one of the most memorable days in Bengals’ history —after giving up a touchdown on their first three drives, the Bengals’ defense held Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, and the vaunted Chiefs’ offense the rest of the way. Joe Burrow brought the Bengals back from a 21-3 deficit, tied for the largest comeback in Conference Championship history, and led a go-ahead fourth quarter and game-winning overtime drive to take the Bengals to the Super Bowl.
Bengals fans, myself included, were riding an all-time Who Dey high. The best part was that it felt like the beginning of something huge, sustained, and a long run of success for this Bengals franchise. With Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Joe Mixon, Tyler Boyd, Trey Hendrickson, Logan Wilson, and Jessie Bates, it felt like the Bengals were going to be a Super Bowl contender for a long time.
Trailing 13-10 to the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI, with 2:10 to play in the first half, Bengals’ safety Jessie Bates III intercepted Rams’ quarterback Matthew Stafford in the end zone. Another big play by the Bengals’ defense, two minutes left in the first half, the Bengals’ high-flying offense coming back onto the field to potentially go tie the game or take the lead… and Vernon Hargreaves.
Remember him? The guy who ran onto the field in flip-flops, celebrating Bates’s interception? Instead of starting at their own 20-yard line, the Bengals had to start their ensuing drive at their own 10-yard line. Just when it looked like the momentum of the Super Bowl was about to completely flip to the Bengals, something as stupid as any stupid Vontaze Burfict penalty or bad snap by Brad St. Louis happened.
That stupid play aside, Burrow did hit Tee Higgins for a 75-yard touchdown on the first play of the second half to give the Bengals a 17-13 lead. On their first defensive snap on the Rams’ ensuing drive, Chidobe Awuzie intercepted Matthew Stafford to give the Bengals the ball at the Rams’ 31-yard line. Great teams would have gone for the knockout blow right there. The Bengals got a field goal on that drive to go up 20-13… and leave the door open.
Fast forward to 6:13 left in the fourth quarter, with the Rams starting their drive with the ball on their own 21-yard line. Four times, the Rams faced either a third or fourth down, and the Bengals’ defense couldn’t get off the field.
Debates can be had if Logan Wilson actually held Cooper Kupp with 1:47 remaining, but the Bengals had three prior opportunities to get a stop and give the ball back to Joe Burrow and the offense to go win the Lombardi Trophy.
Burrow and the offense did get the ball back with 1:25 remaining, now trailing 23-20. The first two plays were a 17-yard reception by Ja’Marr Chase and a nine-yard reception by Tyler Boyd. 2nd&1 at the Rams 49-yard line.
Fifty-two seconds remaining. One yard. Three plays to get it. Obviously, we all know how those three plays unfolded.
If Joe Burrow had one more second on the Bengals’ final offensive play of the season.
If the Bengals could have gotten one yard.
One yard. Remember that.
The momentum the organization had from that magical 2021 season continued into the offseason with a massive free agency spending on the offensive line. After giving up seven sacks in Super Bowl LVI, Mike Brown, Duke Tobin, and the front office were aggressive in fixing the one area they thought cost them a Lombardi Trophy. Coming off that magical 2021 season, Joe Burrow was one of the most popular players in the NFL. The excitement amongst the fanbase was at an all-time high, naming rights for The Jungle were sold to Paycor… and the front office couldn’t reach an extension with Jessie Bates.
When the schedule for the 2022 season was released, with the Bengals opening at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers, most Bengals fans, especially after beating them by a combined score of 65-20 in two games against them in 2021, thought they would crush the Steelers again in Week 1. Times were different. Ben Roethlisberger had retired in January, and the Bengals are so much more talented than the Steelers. For sure, the Bengals would start the season 1-0 with a big win over the Steelers.
Remember, though, one yard.
In that game, with the Bengals trailing 20-14 late in the fourth quarter, they had 1st&Goal at the one-yard line. All that money spent to protect Joe Burrow, who was sacked seven times in this game, and the Bengals couldn’t get one yard in four plays. Turnover on downs. The Bengals would lose 23-20 in overtime, just like they did in Super Bowl LVI. Same score. Burrow was sacked seven times, just as he was in Super Bowl LVI.
Were things really different for the Bengals?
Fast forward to the AFC Championship in Kansas City that season, with the Bengals riding a 10-game winning streak and cornerback Mike Hilton calling Arrowhead Stadium “Burrowhead,” and Joseph Ossai’s ill-advised, untimely penalty where he pushed Patrick Mahomes when Mahomes was already out of bounds.
Harrison Butker nailed a 45-yard field goal to send the Chiefs to the Super Bowl. Final score, wait for it… 23-20.
I had someone mention to me at work the next day that what Joseph Ossai did was on the level of Vontaze Burfict. I didn’t believe it. These Bengals were different, even after losing the AFC Championship. Maybe, though, they weren’t. Again, Vernon Hargreaves happened in the Super Bowl.
The following offseason, Jessie Bates walked in free agency. Vonn Bell walked in free agency.
Alright, well, the Bengals will just replace those guys through the draft and some other free agent signings.
How about this? When you have a great player, regardless of position, he needs to be paid. Bates was not only a great player, but he was also a great leader. Keep that in mind. Leader.
The 2023 Season is a weird one, looking back on it. It felt weird through the first four weeks with Joe Burrow working through a calf injury and the offense struggling to find a consistent rhythm, especially after the Bengals lost to the Tennessee Titans 27-3 in Week 4. That hadn’t happened in the previous two seasons, losing to a team the Bengals should have beaten handily.
With the Bengals rebounding and riding a four-game winning streak into Week 10 against the Houston Texans, the Bengals trailed 27-24 late in the fourth quarter. After Tyler Boyd hauled in a 64-yard catch-and-run to give the Bengals 1st&Goal at the six-yard line, it felt like the Bengals were going to win a game they had no business winning, considering the Texans had 544 total yards of offense.
Then, on 3rd&Goal from the 12-yard line, Tyler Boyd dropped a wide-open touchdown pass. In 2021 and 2022, that play would have been made. The Bengals could only tie the game, and then their defense, minus Jessie Bates, couldn’t get a stop to force overtime and lost 30-27 on a time-expiring game-winning field goal. That loss felt odd. Losing to a middling AFC team.
Middling. Mediocre. Keep those words in mind.
Four nights later, Joe Burrow’s right wrist popped while throwing a touchdown pass in Baltimore. With Tee Higgins missing that game and the game against Houston, the Sunday Night Football game against Buffalo on November 5th that season was the last time Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd, and Joe Mixon shared the same field together as an offense. Mixon and Boyd would leave after the 2023 season.
Even though Jake Browning kept the team afloat and had them at 8-6 going into a Week 16 Saturday afternoon, nationally televised showdown at Pittsburgh, let’s go back to “one yard.”
In the game against Pittsburgh, the Bengals trailed 21-0 largely because of two Jake Browning interceptions and the Steelers’ offense scoring on big offensive plays. But still, the Bengals had a chance to make things interesting with 4:31 remaining in the second quarter and a 1st&Goal at the 10-yard line.
Browning connected with Trenton Irwin for nine yards to bring up 2nd&Goal at the one-yard line. Three plays to get a touchdown. All of them resulted in no gain. One yard. Couldn’t get it. Ghosts of Super Bowl LVI revisited in Pittsburgh. The Bengals would lose that game 34-11 and then were eliminated from playoff contention with a 25-17 loss at the Chiefs the next week.
Let’s go back to the word “leader.” That offseason, they let defensive tackle and run-stopper extraordinaire D.J. Reader walk in free agency. Again, Reader wasn’t just a great player. He was a great leader on the Bengals’ defensive line and run defense.
But for sure, the Bengals would replace him in the Draft, right?
Here’s the deal: Dax Hill, Cam Taylor-Britt, Myles Murphy, Kris Jenkins Jr., McKinnley Jackson, Shemar Stewart, and Demetrius Knight Jr., all draft picks within the first three rounds of the Draft, are not leaders. Watching them play over the last three seasons, it looks like they are players who came in, knowing the Bengals had just went to the Super Bowl and the AFC Championship, and just thought they could go through the motions and they would still do just enough while the offense of Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins carries the team to the Playoffs and back to the Super Bowl.
Bates, Reader, Trey Hendrickson, Sam Hubbard, Logan Wilson, Akeem Davis-Gaither, Mike Hilton, and Chidobe Awuzie were all leaders, largely because they saw this defense, this team, and this organization at a crossroads. They built that defense in 2021 and 2022.
Only Hendrickson and Wilson remain. Hendrickson is dealing with a hip injury, and Wilson has requested a trade. Lack of leadership, combined with missed draft picks on defense, and the last three years now don’t all feel that shocking.
When Burrow missed the final seven games of the 2023 season, Zac Taylor still got a lot of praise and credit for keeping the team afloat. It was a testament to the strong culture he had created through his first two seasons that it withstood a lot of losing. That stuff does matter.
But the cracks in the foundation started to show in the lead-up to the 2024 season. Taylor used to not play the Bengals’ starters much in the preseason. Joe Burrow spoke on the Prime Video broadcast of the Bengals’ third preseason game that he wished he had played more in the preseason.
That, combined with the saga that was contract negotiations with Ja’Marr Chase, created a disjointed team going into the season-opener against the New England Patriots. The cracks in the foundation within the team and organization were beginning to show. The Bengals lost that game 16-10, with the big momentum-changing play in that game being Tanner Hudson, while going in for a game-tying touchdown midway through the second quarter, fumbling the ball at the, wait for it… one-yard line.
Forget that the Bengals put up a valiant effort at Kansas City the following week, except on 4th&16, and fell just short 26-25. Forget the positive momentum —at least it felt like —that effort created.
The following week, on Monday Night Football against the Washington Commanders, the Bengals’ defense didn’t get a single stop in a 38-33 loss. Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase were terrific that night. It didn’t matter. Again, a lack of leadership on defense. That game against Washington could have been chalked up as a fluke. It was only a sign of things to come that season.
The fact that the Bengals front office viewed the 2024 season, particularly the failures on defense, as bad luck and did minimal effort to build a better defense this offseason is grounds for Bengals fans to feel betrayed. They thought that, by signing Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins to massive long-term extensions, they, along with Joe Burrow, would re-create their prolific 2024 seasons again this season. One problem, though, is that they didn’t do enough to protect Joe Burrow this offseason. Burrow’s 2025 season was derailed less than six quarters into it.
Remember that word leader? The Bengals’ offense, even without Joe Burrow, still has leaders on it. Ja’Marr Chase: Leader. Tee Higgins: Leader. Ted Karras and Orlando Brown Jr., both Super Bowl champions before coming to the Bengals: Leaders.
Since the Bengals traded for Joe Flacco, the offense has been great. Leaders are a result of that.
The Bengals’ defense has no leaders.
From an all-time Who Dey high in the Winter of 2022 to where the Bengals are on October 27, 2025. The Bengals are now 3-5, coming off a 39-38 loss to the New York Jets. The Jets were 0-7 coming into Sunday’s game, their owner had ripped his starting quarterback in front of the media to the point where that quarterback, Justin Fields, was crying in a closet when he wasn’t on the field, their top two wide receivers were out, and their top cornerback was out for the game on Sunday.
Offensively, the Jets gained 502 yards, 254 on the ground, and Justin Fields passed for 244 yards through the air. The other four passing yards came on a game-winning touchdown pass by running back Breece Hall. Defensively, the Jets allowed just two targets to Tee Higgins.
Despite those 2021 and 2022 seasons, the Bengals don’t appear to be different. Take away that 10-game winning streak in 2022- the Bengals were 4-4 prior to it- and this organization has been mediocre at best since Super Bowl LVI. They have been mediocre, at best, despite having a premier quarterback in Joe Burrow. He’s had two of his last three seasons derailed by injury since signing a massive, five-year, $275 million contract extension two days before the 2023 season-opener.
The Bengals’ front office doesn’t know what to do. Yes, they went to the Super Bowl just four seasons ago. I’ll echo words that my boss and mentor here at CLNS, Mike Petraglia, told me a couple of days ago, that the Bengals “ran into a Super Bowl” four seasons ago.
It wasn’t a result of the organization. It was a result of the greatness of Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow overcame nine sacks in the Divisional round at Tennessee. Joe Burrow overcame an 18-point deficit in the AFC Championship, scrambling for two first downs on a go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter. Joe Burrow came within one second of overcoming an overmatched offensive line to bring a Lombardi Trophy to Cincinnati.
That season felt like the start of unprecedented success for the Bengals. But the problem is the Bengals front office hasn’t known, and still doesn’t know, what to do to sustain that magic and sustain success even with a premier quarterback. That, combined with a departure and, now, lack of leadership on defense, is why the Bengals are in this situation today.
The curtain has been peeled back on why these Bengals may just be the “same old Bengals.” There are few, if any, Bengals fans who have faith in this front office to get the Bengals back to Super Bowl contention. With Joe Burrow, they shouldn’t be feeling this way. It should be different, but it’s not.
