The Cincinnati Bengals have had a disappointing season. No matter how often head coach Zac Taylor wants to sugarcoat the harsh reality, this is a 4-9 football team.
All the adversity they're facing now isn't relevant, at least to the fact that they're missing the playoffs again in all likelihood. So what's left to play for? Root for? We can start with the mere hope that Joe Burrow keeps finding enjoyment in football and doesn't have his spirit broken.
While that's something we can all agree on, there's another juicy narrative to watch down the stretch of the season that just popped on Wednesday. It was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Bengals DE Shemar Stewart could play in Week 15 after designated return from IR
The Bengals announced that rookie first-round pick Shemar Stewart was cleared to practice as of Wednesday, which opens his 21-day window to return to action for Cincinnati.
Stewart had a promising NFL debut, only to get hurt on that same fateful Sunday as Burrow in Week 2. Once he returned to the lineup, Stewart looked like he didn't belong on an NFL field. Then came his stint on injured reserve, which left an already-thin defensive end rotation even worse off.
Nobody questions whether Stewart has the physical tools to be a dominant force off the edge. The problem is, will a man who had only 4.5 sacks in three seasons at Texas A&M somehow find better production at the NFL level? Early returns aren't promising.
Cincinnati desperately needs to see something out of Stewart soon. It's an ominous-looking defensive end group heading into 2026. Joseph Ossai and Cam Sample are hitting free agency, while Trey Hendrickson has probably played his last down for the team, too.
That only guarantees that Stewart and 2023 first-round pick Myles Murphy will be back as significant contributors.
Murphy has, at long last, started to come on strong in his third NFL season. That's the problem, though. The Bengals haven't done a good enough job developing their draft picks, or they're flat-out whiffing on them. However you want to assign the blame, they can't afford to wait until 2027 to see Stewart finally pop off. That's how you keep blowing Burrow's prime on bad defenses.
Snaps may be hard to come by for Stewart as is. He might not even play on Sunday against the Ravens. So he'd only have three games to make an impression.
Ossai's stellar form of late combined with Murphy's ascent won't give Stewart many opportunities, even though he has the versatility to kick inside in pass rush-specific subpackages.
Oh well. Whatever. The defense isn't "one player away" from being close to fixed. The least Stewart could do is flash some of that superstar potential he obviously has. That alone should have fans engaged for the home stretch beyond the self-evident appeal of seeing Joe Brrr light it up on the gridiron as he always does...when healthy.