Ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals' Week 16 matchup against the Dolphins, a potential franchise-changing decision by Miami coach Mike McDaniel is making headlines.
Handsomely paid franchise quarterback Tua Tagovailoa won't be duking it out in a duel against troubled Bengals superstar Joe Burrow. Instead, the Dolphins are rolling with seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers under center on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Seeing as how Cincinnati is favored on the road, the news of Tua's benching could be viewed as a positive development. Sadly, that ain't really the case.
Read More: A 2026 Bengals mock draft that tries to be as bad at this as Duke Tobin is
Dolphins starting QB Quinn Ewers over Tua Tagovailoa is ultimate no-win situation for Bengals
Just think about it for a second. The 4-10 Bengals have nothing but pride to play for. Winning any more games only strengthens the case to keep Zac Taylor and Duke Tobin in place.
Does the inexperienced Ewers really give Miami a better chance to win than Tua? Maybe he will eventually, but not in his first NFL start.
While there's an argument to be made that there isn't film on Ewers and therefore he could hit the ground running with a certain element of surprise, he was a seventh-round pick for a reason. Despite a rather successful college tenure at Texas, Ewers' trajectory has dipped overall since being one of the most highly touted QB recruits in history.
Beyond the job prospects of Taylor and Tobin becoming more secure with a Cincinnati victory, though, there's no optimistic narrative to spin Ewers' start for the Bengals' horrendous defense.
Let's say they shut down Ewers, and he looks completely in over his head. What will that prove? Nothing. If anything, it'll muddy the evaluation of players and convince Cincinnati's brass that they should roll with more incumbents next season than is advisable. Us fans know they're already so high on their own supply and unreasonably patient with everyone they acquire. An Ewers flop only exacerbates that problem.
What if Ewers balls out, but Burrow outscores him and shreds a Dolphins D that quadragenarian Aaron Rodgers just lit up on Monday Night Football? Well, then that's further proof of just how far away Cincinnati is from fielding a defense that has any business suiting up for the playoffs.
As things stand right now, the Bengals own the ninth overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. You can't convince me their chances of losing in Week 16 increase with Ewers running Miami's offense. Vegas sure doesn't believe that's the case.
The #Bengals have jumped from 1-point favorites to 4.5-point favorites with the Ewers announcement.
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) December 17, 2025
The Bengals specialize in self-sabotage. The big bummer for Sunday is that the Dolphins are giving them a convenient assist toward that ongoing mission.