The Cincinnati Bengals have an uphill battle or several ahead to return to the playoffs for the first time since the 2022 season next year. That period of glory in the Joe Burrow era, where a run to Super Bowl LVI and another AFC Championship Game berth transpired, seems like a distant memory.
Now that the 2025 campaign has wrapped up with a 6-11 record, we can finally move forward as a united Who Dey Nation. Not before some self-effacing, using-humor-to-cope material, though.
Here's a glimpse at some of the lowlights of this past year, and how the Bengals can hopefully put it all to bed with an offseason that's "as big as it gets" to use Burrow's words.
Four of the top 12 players in missed tackles — and a couple unsavory outliers
Shout out to Pro Football Reference for the data here. No surprise that PFF charted the Bengals as the NFL's third-worst tackling team — and that was with some improvement toward the end of the schedule.
Read 'em and weep, Who Dey Heads: The final tally of missed tackles for the 2025 campaign from Cincinnati's usual suspects.
1. Geno Stone (26)
3. Jordan Battle (21)
8. Demetrius Knight Jr. (18)
12. Barrett Carter (16)
As if that wasn't bad enough, situational cornerback Josh Newton racked up 10 tackle whiffs for a miss rate of 40%. You read that correctly. "Fig" had 25 tackling opportunities and fanned on 10.
Oh, and defensive end Joseph Ossai, an apparent prized free agent who the Bengals must prioritize re-signing, had a missed tackle rate of 18.9%. Now granted, it is harder on the line of scrimmage to finish plays, but among defensive ends, only the Jets' Will McDonald IV had a higher miss rate than Ossai.
You could either read that as Ossai having a lot of upside if he can finish plays more often. Or you can believe what he put on tape in all previous years and let him hit the open market to sign elsewhere. I personally do not know what to make of him.
What I do know is that Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter cannot be the starting linebackers in Week 1. Geno Stone also cannot come back to start next to Jordan Battle at safety. That's organizational malpractice if it happens.
Read More: 4 Bengals players who definitely won't be back in 2026
Ja'Marr Chase had as many solo tackles (5) as Shemar Stewart
Shout out to Underdog on X for pointing out this fact. It's pretty straightforward and doesn't need much more context.
Not only is it sad that Ja'Marr had to make so many tackles after Bengals turnovers, but it's more proof that the Bengals are addicted to investing first-round picks in players who aren't ready to contribute right away. Their immense growing pains, meanwhile, cost Joe Burrow multiple years of his prime.
Stewart did have an injury-riddled rookie campaign. That said, it wasn't like Cincinnati had a bunch of world beaters at defensive end, to where he couldn't crack the rotation if he displayed basic competence when he was healthy.
Here's hoping for Shemar to do, you know, something as an NFL sophomore. Because my goodness, what an inauspicious start. His 41.2 PFF grade was DFL among 116 qualifying edge defenders.
Bengals still below .500 when scoring 33+ points since start of 2024 season
Whether Burrow was in the lineup or Joe Flacco was playing out of his mind, the Bengals' defense continued to let the offense down too often when it was firing on all cylinders.
Don't know what the update is for everyone across the league, but this is where the aggregate stood after Cincinnati's brutal 39-34 loss to the Bills:
Time to re-rack the defining stat of the last two years of #Bengals football.
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) December 7, 2025
Rest of NFL when scoring at least 33 points: 136-10-2.
Cincinnati when scoring at least 33 points: 4-7
Burrow did throw consecutive interceptions in that Buffalo game, including a pick-six, but the offensive unit played more than well enough to secure a victory that could've kept Cincinnati's faint playoff hopes alive.
Anyway, victories over the Dolphins and Cardinals by respective scores of 45-21 and 37-14 helped the Bengals improve to 6-7 when scoring 33+ points over the past two seasons.
That's still only winning at a 46.2% clip, whereas the rest of the NFL, as of Dec. 7, had a win rate of 92.6% when their offensive output was that high.
Fans are ready for real change in Cincinnati. Pretty clear which side of the ball needs to be the focus.