October 30, 2026
October 30, 2026
Cincinnati Bengals 2025 Season
The Bengals’ 2025 season was built on one assumption: Joe Burrow would be under center. That assumption lasted six quarters. A turf toe injury in Week 2 sent the franchise quarterback to surgery, and Cincinnati spent the next three months trying to survive without him. The Bengals went 1-8 in his absence. They traded for a 40-year-old quarterback, lost a string of games that were nearly won, and fielded one of the worst defenses in modern NFL history. Burrow returned on Thanksgiving night and sparked a late push. It came too late. Cincinnati finished 6-11 and missed the playoffs for a third straight year.
Cincinnati entered the year determined to keep its offensive core together. In March, the front office signed Ja’Marr Chase to a four-year, $161 million extension. It also kept Tee Higgins on a four-year, $115 million deal. Burrow, Chase and Higgins would remain the AFC’s most dangerous passing trio. The defense, however, demanded change. Al Golden arrived as the new defensive coordinator after a 2024 campaign in which Cincinnati’s defense repeatedly let close games slip away.
The pass rush brought its own drama. Trey Hendrickson, who led the NFL with 17.5 sacks in 2024, held out through June minicamp and held in during training camp. The standoff ended in late August with a reworked one-year deal that raised his salary to $30 million. First-round pick Shemar Stewart, an edge rusher from Texas A&M, also missed time in a contract dispute before signing. Sam Hubbard retired, and Germaine Pratt was released. Two rookies, Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter, were thrust into starting linebacker roles. The offense looked like a contender. The defense looked like a gamble.
The opener in Cleveland offered little style but a valuable result. Cincinnati held on for a 17-16 win as the offense sputtered and the defense bent. A week later against Jacksonville, the cost of that early-season optimism came due. Burrow had already hit Chase for a touchdown when Arik Armstead dragged him down in the second quarter. His cleat caught in the turf. He limped off and never returned.
Jake Browning took over and absorbed three interceptions. Then he delivered the drive of his career. With the game tied and time draining away, he marched the Bengals 92 yards in 15 plays. His quarterback sneak with 18 seconds left sealed a 31-27 win. Cincinnati stood 2-0. The celebration lasted only until the diagnosis arrived. Burrow had a Grade 3 turf toe injury and underwent surgery on September 19.
Without Burrow, the Bengals’ 2025 season collapsed almost immediately. Minnesota buried Cincinnati 48-10, the most lopsided loss in franchise history. Denver followed with a 28-3 rout on Monday night. Detroit then won 37-24 in Cincinnati. Browning could not find a rhythm, and the defense offered no relief. In three weeks, a 2-0 start had become a 2-3 crisis.
The front office refused to concede the year. On October 7, Cincinnati acquired Joe Flacco from Cleveland. Flacco made his debut at Green Bay days later in a 27-18 loss. He showed enough to earn the job outright.
The real statement came the following Thursday night against Pittsburgh. The Steelers led the AFC North and seized a 31-30 lead with 2:21 left. Flacco calmly worked the Bengals back down the field. Higgins hauled in a 28-yard catch and slid down just short of the goal line. Evan McPherson then drilled a 36-yarder with seven seconds left for a 33-31 victory. Flacco threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns. Chase caught 16 passes for 161 yards. For one night, the season felt alive again.
The offense kept producing, and the defense kept giving it back. The Jets escaped Cincinnati with a 39-38 win. Chicago arrived next and delivered the cruelest loss of the year. The Bengals trailed 41-27 with under five minutes left. Flacco threw a touchdown to Noah Fant, the Bengals recovered an onside kick, and Andrei Iosivas caught the go-ahead score with 54 seconds left. Then Caleb Williams found Colston Loveland for a 58-yard touchdown with 17 seconds remaining. Chicago won 47-42 despite Flacco’s career-high 470 passing yards.
Those defeats defined the season. Through 11 weeks, the defense graded as the worst unit by DVOA in NFL history. A 34-12 loss at Pittsburgh added a one-game suspension for Chase after a confrontation with Jalen Ramsey. Without him, Cincinnati fell 26-20 to New England despite McPherson’s franchise-record 63-yard field goal. The Bengals sat at 3-8.
The Bengals needed a miracle, and Burrow came back to deliver one. He returned on Thanksgiving night in Baltimore, nine games after his surgery. The defense, finally, played with the same urgency. Cincinnati forced five Ravens turnovers. Joseph Ossai recorded two sacks and a forced fumble. Jordan Battle stripped Isaiah Likely inches from the goal line. McPherson turned the takeaways into six field goals. Burrow added touchdown passes to Tanner Hudson and Iosivas in a 32-14 rout. It was the first Thanksgiving victory in franchise history, and Burrow savored the moment in his postgame reflections.
The margin for error was already gone. Cincinnati traded blows with Buffalo before falling 39-34. Baltimore then returned the Thanksgiving favor with a 24-0 shutout in Cincinnati. It was the first time Burrow had ever been shut out, and it officially ended the playoff chase. The Bengals answered with pride rather than surrender. They routed Miami 45-21 and Arizona 37-14. The finale against Cleveland ended in fitting fashion, with a walk-off field goal handing the Browns a 20-18 win.
Chase remained the franchise’s brightest star. He topped 1,000 receiving yards for the fifth straight season to open his career. Only four players in NFL history had done that before him. He earned first-team All-Pro honors. Burrow, Higgins and Flacco joined him in the Pro Bowl, the first of Flacco’s long career. Chase Brown gave the offense a dependable ground game. The offensive line delivered its most consistent play in roughly a decade, with rookie Dylan Fairchild winning the left guard job.
Burrow, in eight games, threw for 1,809 yards with 17 touchdowns and five interceptions. McPherson made every field goal attempt inside 50 yards. Those performances only sharpened the frustration. The defense finished 30th in points allowed and 31st in yards allowed. Golden’s adjustments after the bye, with more man coverage and blitzing, produced more takeaways. They could not erase the damage already done.
The pass rush never became the weapon the front office had paid for. Hendrickson, the centerpiece of the August standoff, finished the year on injured reserve. Stewart missed roughly half the season with injuries and produced little when healthy. Knight and Carter flashed playmaking ability but struggled in coverage and tackling. Opponents averaged the second-most yards per carry in the league against Cincinnati. Punter Ryan Rehkow, third in the league in average punt distance, at least helped flip the field for a unit that needed every inch. The team’s complete 2025 statistics tell the story of an elite offense yoked to a defense that could not keep pace.
The Bengals’ 2025 season exposed how thin the line was between contention and collapse. One injury removed the franchise’s foundation. A defense that could not protect leads did the rest. Five of the eleven losses came by eight points or fewer. Each one felt like a win slipping through the fingers. Owner Mike Brown chose continuity, retaining head coach Zac Taylor and director of player personnel Duke Tobin. A full review of the season pointed to the defensive line as the most urgent need.
The offense proved it could still carry Cincinnati, even with a backup at quarterback. The defense proved it could not be trusted to finish the job. That imbalance will define how the Bengals’ 2025 season is remembered: a year of brilliant offense, broken defense and a franchise left wondering what a healthy Burrow might have built.
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