The Cincinnati Bengals are a 3-7 football team in the aftermath of Sunday's 34-12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and their defense has earned every bit of that mark.
Take your pick as to which defensive issue you'd like to focus on. Other than the coverage ability of cornerback DJ Turner, there is very little to celebrate — contrary to what the folks on Who Dey X/Twitter would have you believe.
Although the defense isn't to blame for the Steelers getting two defensive touchdowns of their own, there's a false positive narrative going around that I feel compelled to vanquish. Because it seemed self-evident in real time, and is only confirmed by new advanced data.
Dispelling Bengals' alleged pass rush improvement vs. Steelers in Week 11
Just search X/Twitter for "Myles Murphy" and you'll find all kinds of glowing praise for his efforts in Pittsburgh.
Yes, he had six quarterback pressures and a sack, which on the surface, would indicate that the 2023 first-round pick is turning a corner. Finally! Turning into the starting-caliber defensive end Cincinnati hoped he'd be!
Ooh and Joseph Ossai, PFF tells me, had three pressures on 28 pass rush snaps! Has Godot finally arrived!? Is he worth that $6.5 million the Bengals shelled out to keep him around!?
Dump on PFF grades all you want. There's some subjectivity to them. You know what isn't subjective? You know what's inevitable? The passage of time.
Allow me to explain. I know this is a long preamble but bear with me.
A lot of people want to celebrate Myles Murphy and Joseph Ossai right now. What if I told you that entering Week 11, Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers had the fastest time to throw per dropback in the NFL at 2.59 seconds, per Next Gen Stats?
Guess what Rodgers' average time to throw on Sunday was, when he was pressured on 10 of 17 dropbacks before exiting with a wrist injury? It was 3.69 seconds. For context, that's far longer than Caleb Williams' season-long 3.24, which "leads" the pack.
Mason Rudolph subbed in for Rodgers and had an average time to throw of 2.94 seconds. The Bengals only logged two pressures on Rudolph's 16 dropbacks. Rudolph's clip still outpaces the forever-frozen, just-benched Jets dubious passer Justin Fields, who shredded the Bengals in Week 8's 39-38 defensive debacle.
So please, Who Dey Heads. Take off the rose-tinted glasses. Miss me with this talk of improvement from Myles Murphy and Joseph Ossai. They weren't getting quick wins on Sunday. Aaron Rodgers was holding the ball for an eternity while the Bengals' secondary locked up a pedestrian Steelers receiving corps.
Trust me, y'all. We're still down very, very bad.
Congratulations to the #Bengals, who made it to the bottom. I wasn't sure this week's game with the Steelers was bad enough, but the Bengals now have the worst defensive DVOA ever measured (through 10 games).
— Aaron Schatz 🏈 (@ASchatzNFL) November 17, 2025
(Higher DVOA = More Offense) pic.twitter.com/Co8mObe7F9