Just when it looked like the Cincinnati Bengals could earn a moment of reprieve from the NFL's watchful eye after allowing 86 points in their last two home games, they somehow found a way to make their performance in the 2025 season look worse.
The New York Jets and Chicago Bears, both of whom looked like they were playing against college defenses when they suited up against the Bengals, reverted back to the mean in a truly brutal-to-watch fashion.
The Jets may have put up some points against the Cleveland Browns, but two of their touchdowns came on kick returns. The still-starting Justin Fields recorded 54 passing yards midway through the fourth quarter, one of which was a 42-yard screen pass to Breece Hall behind the line of scrimmage.
The Bears, meanwhile, find themselves struggling at home to Jaxson Dart and the New York Giants. The receivers seem uninterested in catching anything, and Caleb Williams is barely completing over half of his passes. Against the Bengals, both of these teams looked like they were never going to lose.
Jets and Bears' offenses struggling in Week 10 makes Bengals defense look even worse
There is not one area of defensive football in which Cincinnati excels. Unless Trey Hendrickson just goes nuts and takes a game over, they have no pass rush. The run defense, as shown in Breece Hall and Kyle Monangai both dominating, is as pitiful as it gets.
The linebacker room, which has leaned fully into the youth movement by trading Logan Wilson and rolling with two rookies in Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter, is going through such a sharp rookie learning curve that it's tough for anyone to win with this level of quarterback play.
The secondary is pathetic, as even DJ Turner becoming one of the best in the business can overcome the worst safety tandem in the NFL. On most other teams, Geno Stone and Jordan Battle would not be able to hold on to their starting roles.
This defense may finally get the facelift it needs in the offseason, when new players come in and overwhelmed coordinator Al Golden is relieved of his duties, but that isn't going to do much in the short-term for a team that needs to score 40 points a week to even have a 50-50 shot at winning.