The Bengals Have Run Out of Excuses—It Is Playoffs or Major Changes in Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Bengals can blame injuries, defensive failures, slow starts and poor roster construction for their recent decline. What they cannot do is continue pretending that patience remains an acceptable strategy.

The Bengals have missed the playoffs three consecutive years. They followed back-to-back 9–8 seasons with a disastrous 6–11 campaign in 2025, their worst record since Joe Burrow’s rookie season. Cincinnati ownership nevertheless retained head coach Zac Taylor and director of player personnel Duke Tobin, giving the men responsible for the collapse another opportunity to repair it.

That opportunity has arrived. So has the deadline.

The Bengals enter the 2026 season with Burrow healthy, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins together, a significantly rebuilt defense and enough talent to compete for the AFC North championship. Another postseason absence cannot be dismissed as an unfortunate setback. It must bring major organizational changes.

Joe Burrow’s Prime Cannot Be Wasted

The most important fact surrounding the Bengals is also the most frustrating: they employ one of the best quarterbacks in football.

Burrow has already demonstrated that he can lead Cincinnati through the AFC playoffs. He took the Bengals to Super Bowl LVI and returned them to the AFC Championship Game the following season. Cincinnati was not merely competitive during those runs. It was one of the most dangerous teams in the league.

That success changed the standard.

The Bengals are no longer the harmless franchise that can celebrate an occasional winning season. They have a franchise quarterback capable of winning a championship, and every wasted year of Burrow’s prime should be treated as an organizational failure.

Burrow missed nine games in 2025 after suffering a turf-toe injury, but even that cannot excuse everything that went wrong. Cincinnati’s inability to survive without him exposed the roster’s lack of balance. The defense repeatedly surrendered enormous yardage totals, the backup-quarterback situation initially collapsed, and a team with playoff aspirations quickly lost control of its season.

Burrow returned late in the year and immediately reminded everyone why championship expectations remain justified. He finished the season with 1,809 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and five interceptions in eight appearances and earned another Pro Bowl selection.

A healthy Burrow gives Cincinnati an advantage most NFL teams spend decades trying to find. The Bengals cannot keep responding to that advantage with incomplete rosters and wasted seasons.

Cincinnati Has Finally Invested in the Defense

For years, Bengals fans watched the organization behave as if Burrow, Chase and Higgins could overcome every defensive breakdown. Cincinnati repeatedly needed its offense to score in the 30s simply to remain competitive.

That was never sustainable.

The 2025 defense reached the point of embarrassment. Cincinnati allowed the previously winless Jets to accumulate 502 yards, including 254 rushing yards, in a 39–38 loss. The Bengals later surrendered 576 yards and 47 points to Chicago despite Joe Flacco throwing for 470 yards and four touchdowns.

Those games summarized Cincinnati’s fundamental problem. The offense could play well enough to win, yet the defense could still find a way to lose.

To its credit, the front office finally responded aggressively.

The Bengals traded the 10th overall selection in the 2026 draft to the New York Giants for defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II. It was a remarkable departure from the organization’s traditionally cautious approach and reportedly marked the first time Cincinnati had traded a top-10 draft choice.

Lawrence gives the Bengals the dominant interior presence they have lacked. He can disrupt the running game, collapse the pocket and force opposing offensive lines to devote extra attention to the middle.

Cincinnati also added veteran defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, defensive end Boye Mafe and safety Bryan Cook. The Bengals then selected Texas A&M pass rusher Cashius Howell in the second round. Howell recorded 11 sacks during his final college season and now has the opportunity to attack favorable matchups created by Lawrence and Allen.

Trey Hendrickson’s departure for Baltimore hurts, particularly because he joined an AFC North rival. However, the Bengals cannot claim they ignored the defense this time. They invested premium resources in changing the unit’s identity.

Second-year defensive coordinator Al Golden now has better personnel. Tobin has made his moves. Taylor has his roster.

The excuses are disappearing.

Zac Taylor Must Prove He Is More Than Joe Burrow’s Coach

Taylor deserves credit for helping lead the Bengals out of irrelevance. Cincinnati reached a Super Bowl and two AFC Championship Games under his leadership, accomplishments that should never be dismissed.

But past success cannot provide permanent job security.

Taylor enters his eighth season with a 52–63–1 regular-season record. His 5–2 playoff record is impressive, but the Bengals have not participated in a postseason game since January 2023. Three consecutive playoff absences are difficult to defend when the roster includes Burrow, Chase and Higgins.

The recurring slow starts are particularly damaging.

Cincinnati has too often looked unprepared in September, forcing the team to spend the rest of the season repairing damage created during the opening weeks. The Bengals finally ended a three-year Week 1 losing streak in 2025, only for Burrow’s injury the following week to send the season in another direction.

Injuries are unavoidable. Looking disorganized at the beginning of nearly every season is not.

Taylor must demonstrate that he can prepare this team to play with urgency from the opening kickoff. Cincinnati cannot afford another 0–2 start followed by speeches about remaining patient and finding its rhythm. In a division featuring Lamar Jackson and the retooled Ravens, the Bengals could find themselves chasing the standings before October arrives.

Sunday’s opener against Tampa Bay is more than one game. It is an early test of whether Cincinnati has learned from its repeated failures.

Duke Tobin’s Roster Must Finally Be Complete

Tobin has been one of the most powerful figures in Cincinnati’s football operation for more than two decades. His defenders can point to the drafting of Burrow, Chase and Higgins, the construction of the 2021 Super Bowl roster and the organization’s transformation into a viable destination for veteran players.

His critics can point to everything that has happened since the 2022 AFC Championship Game.

The offensive line has remained a concern despite repeated investments. The defense deteriorated from a championship-caliber unit into one of the NFL’s worst. Draft picks failed to develop quickly enough, productive veterans departed, and the roster became far too dependent on Burrow’s brilliance.

Tobin’s aggressive 2026 offseason suggests that he understands the stakes. The Lawrence trade was not the move of an executive overseeing a long-term rebuild. It was the move of an organization attempting to win immediately.

That means the results must also arrive immediately.

If Lawrence, Allen, Mafe, Cook and Howell transform the defense, Tobin deserves credit. If the Bengals remain unable to stop the run, pressure quarterbacks or protect fourth-quarter leads, the organization must find someone else to construct the roster around Burrow.

Cincinnati cannot waste another offseason making minor adjustments to a major problem.

The Offense Is Still Good Enough to Carry a Contender

Questions remain about the offensive line, but the Bengals possess more than enough firepower to reach the postseason.

Burrow is one of the league’s most accurate and composed passers. Chase is already building a historic career, becoming the only receiver in NFL history to record at least 80 receptions, seven touchdowns and 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first five seasons. Higgins would be the unquestioned No. 1 receiver on numerous teams.

Together, Burrow, Chase and Higgins give Cincinnati an offensive foundation capable of beating anyone.

The Bengals also retained veteran Joe Flacco, whose 2025 performances proved that he can keep the passing game functional if Burrow misses limited time. Flacco threw for a career-high 470 yards against Chicago and provides the experienced insurance Cincinnati lacked when Burrow was initially injured last season.

The supporting cast does not have to be perfect. The defense does not have to rank first in the NFL. Cincinnati simply needs competence surrounding its stars.

The Bengals cannot ask Burrow to rescue them every Sunday. They need to protect him, run the ball effectively enough to maintain balance and prevent opponents from turning every game into a shootout.

That is not an unreasonable standard for a playoff team.

Missing the Playoffs Must Bring Consequences

Owner Mike Brown chose continuity after the 2025 collapse. He retained Taylor and Tobin because of their previous success and expressed confidence in their ability to return the Bengals to championship contention.

That decision created a straightforward arrangement: Taylor and Tobin received one more chance.

They should not receive another one if Cincinnati misses the playoffs again.

A fourth consecutive postseason absence would mean the Bengals had failed throughout a significant portion of Burrow’s prime. It would mean the 2021 and 2022 playoff runs were becoming distant memories rather than the beginning of sustained contention.

The Bengals do not necessarily have to reach the Super Bowl to save the current leadership structure. The AFC is too talented to declare anything short of a championship a failure. But Cincinnati must qualify for the playoffs, compete for the AFC North and demonstrate that it again belongs among the conference’s serious contenders.

Anything less should force Brown to reconsider everything.

Taylor’s job must be on the line. Tobin’s authority must be examined. The scouting, drafting, medical and player-development operations must all be evaluated. Cincinnati cannot continue making cosmetic changes while the seasons of its franchise quarterback disappear.

It Is Time to Win

The Bengals have the quarterback. They have elite receivers. They have invested heavily in rebuilding the defense. They have retained the head coach and personnel executive responsible for assembling and directing the roster.

There is nobody else left to blame.

Cincinnati’s championship window remains open because Burrow is good enough to keep it open. But no window stays open forever. Injuries accumulate, contracts become more expensive, supporting casts change and younger teams emerge.

The Bengals cannot continue living on what they accomplished several years ago. A Super Bowl appearance in the 2021 season does not excuse missing the playoffs in 2026. An AFC Championship Game appearance in the 2022 season does not prove the current roster is good enough.

The only evidence that matters now will be produced on the field.

The Bengals must return to the playoffs. If they do, this offseason could be remembered as the moment Cincinnati finally gave Burrow the balanced roster he deserved.

If they do not, Mike Brown must stop offering second chances.

It will be time for major changes in Cincinnati.