The Cincinnati Bengals have a delicate balance to strike over the final few games, beginning with Week 16's showdown in Miami against the Dolphins.
Now that the playoffs are officially out of reach, the Bengals are in evaluation mode with veterans and young players, and are also trying to get to the end-of-season clubhouse with their most critical players intact.
That's already proving more difficult than is optimal. Joe Burrow popped up on the injury report with a knee injury. Tee Higgins is still working through the concussion protocol after suffering two head injuries in recent weeks.
And then there's the minefield of anything that could happen to anyone else in the next 180 minutes of game action on the gridiron.
Bengals' handling of core players is a panic-inducing Week 16 subplot vs. Dolphins
Just look at the laundry list of injuries that are popping up for Cincinnati entering this mostly-meaningless road trip to Miami:
No new additions and just two upgrades on today's #Bengals injury report. pic.twitter.com/lVMqHPiuLE
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) December 18, 2025
Rookie first-round pick Shemar Stewart has been out with a knee injury for quite a while. He should get plenty of run, especially since the Bengals are (wisely) sitting out ascending, pending free agent Joseph Ossai.
Joseph Ossai, Kris Jenkins, Noah Fant & Charlie Jones are OUT vs Miami. Jenkins is going to IR with an ankle.
— Charlie Clifford (@char_cliff) December 19, 2025
Tee Higgins is questionable. Still needs to clear hurdles in concussion protocol. BJ Hill is good to go.
The question is, at what point does a big workload for Stewart put him at unnecessary risk? It's quite the needle to thread, because Stewart and his 4.5 sacks across three years at Texas A&M underscore just how much of a raw project he is. All the physical tools in the world. Just can't put them to good use at the NFL level yet.
Higgins' outlook is unsettling to say the least. If he were to suffer yet another concussion, it could do untold damage to the rest of his career. The Bengals were reckless enough with him in Buffalo when he slammed his head on the turf multiple times, yet stayed in the game.
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Several other names on that injury report pop out, but none more so than Burrow. We're talking about an elite quarterback who has an alarming medical rap sheet. The first severe injury Joe Brrr suffered as a pro was an obliterated knee in his rookie year. Every major ligament torn. Somehow, he rallied back to lead the Bengals on a run to Super Bowl LVI the next season.
Given that there's no chance Burrow is 100% recovered from turf toe surgery, what's the point of trotting him out there on a less-than-stable knee? Palpable danger of a compensatory injury looms.
You can't help but respect Burrow for willing his way back onto the field this year, not to mention his willingness to play even when there's nothing of substance to play for.
If there's the slightest indication of discomfort, Cincinnati gains nothing by keeping Burrow in the lineup and letting him gut it out. It's not like Bengals coach Zac Taylor is coaching for his job, either.
Any other Who Dey Heads feeling super uneasy about all this?
All we want for Christmas and this holiday season is good health for our favorite players. Prayers up that the Bengals actually know what they're doing, because things are feeling ominous and weird for reasons that have nothing to do with the team's beyond-poor 4-10 record.