Bengals 2025 Season in Crisis: Playoff Hopes Fade Despite Burrow’s Return

The Cincinnati Bengals are in the midst of one of their most frustrating seasons in recent memory.

This offseason, everything seemed aligned. Offensively, Joe Burrow had his top two wideouts Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins sign on long-term deals. Defensively, the Bengals brought back Trey Hendrickson for one more year and added Shemar Stewart in the NFL Draft.

But the Bengals find themselves 3-8 with more questions than answers as Burrow makes his return from turf toe that has sidelined him since September.

Cincinnati had to suffer through a few miserable games of Jake Browning playing quarterback before they traded with the Cleveland Browns for the first time in franchise history for Joe Flacco. While the 40-year-old brought some life to Cincinnati’s passing attack, the results never came true in the win column.

In fact, the Browns have actually won more games than the Bengals since the controversial trade for Flacco went down.

After the Bengals fell short last season, they fired defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo and replaced him with Al Golden, but the results have remained the same.

The Bengals have one of the worst defenses in the NFL. They have already ruled out Hendrickson for Thursday’s primetime game against the Baltimore Ravens. Stewart is also questionable to play.

And just like that, Cincinnati’s hopes of securing a playoff spot is slipping away. Adding insult to injury, the AFC North has been wildly overrated this season. The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t a real contender and the Ravens were without Lamar Jackson for several weeks.

Yet still, Baltimore seems primed to run away with the division. A Ravens victory on Thursday Night Football would just about sink any chances that Cincinnati could hold onto to turn this season around. And it’s a bummer because Burrow is finally cleared to return.

While Burrow will undoubtedly get the football to Chase and Higgins, it might not matter. In fact, there is an argument to be had that winning games after Thanksgiving would just hurt Cincinnati’s draft positioning.

There are winnable games remaining on this schedule. The Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins are both dead and the Cleveland Browns could be playing out the string in their Week 18 matchup. With Burrow available, all of those are winnable games, as are Cincinnati’s two meetings with the Ravens that will likely determine their fate this season.

Unless Burrow goes on a tear and runs the table, the Bengals aren’t going to have a winning record this year. That should place head coach Zac Taylor and Duke Tobin firmly on the hot seat just a few months after everything was looking up in Cincinnati.