The Bengals have plunged into an ignominious place, being set to miss three straight playoff brackets in Joe Burrow‘s 20s. The team’s status received additional scrutiny after some puzzling comments from the superstar quarterback last week. Although Burrow attempted to make clear the disillusionment he expressed was not directed on the Bengals, antennae across the NFL sprang up after the press conference.
Sitting 4-10, the Bengals have regressed considerably from a 2024 season that featured a woeful defense deny Burrow playoff access after an MVP-caliber season. Cincinnati’s defense has dipped from 2024, as Trey Hendrickson has missed much of this season with a hip injury. For many franchises, a housecleaning can be considered. However the Bengals don’t operate like most clubs.
While rumblings about de facto GM Duke Tobin‘s job security emerged midway through this season, The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. counters by noting the chief VP is just not going anywhere. The Bengals view Tobin “like family,” per Dehner.
Tobin, 55, has been with the Bengals since 1999. The team didn’t win a playoff game for 20-plus years into Tobin’s stick with the team. Usually, the person within the GM seat would have been fired way back. However the Bengals have kept Tobin around; success throughout the Burrow era followed, however the team is actually in a rut.
Hired in 2019, Taylor will end this season 2-for-7 in playoff qualification. Burrow injuries have defined much of Taylor’s tenure, nevertheless, and the team made back-to-back AFC championship game berths for the primary time in franchise history on the present HC’s watch. This included a narrow Super Bowl LVI defeat. For the reason that Bengals’ 2022 AFC title game loss to the Chiefs, they’re 22-26. Like Tobin, nevertheless, Taylor must be viewed as more likely to remain in his post beyond this season, per Dehner.
Taylor’s extension carries two more years, as Dehner adds the contract runs through the 2027 season as an alternative of 2026. The edges agreed on a five-year extension in 2022, but Dehner notes the parties huddled up again on an amended deal following the 2022 slate; this tacked on a 12 months to the previous agreement. That additional bump could prove to be significant regarding Taylor’s future.
When the Bengals last made a training change, Marvin Lewis coached a lame-duck season. This left no guaranteed money for the longtime HC, giving the Bengals a clean out after the 2018 season. Most teams don’t proceed this fashion, however the Bengals actually have a status for thriftiness under Brown. Firing Taylor with two seasons left on his deal can be out of character, though it might stand to reason the HC’s seat can be reasonably warm come 2026.
Burrow lobbied aggressively for the Bengals to retain Tee Higgins after which stumped for a Hendrickson payday. Hendrickson is on target free of charge agency, seeing his extension push fail when the Bengals refused to incorporate guaranteed salary beyond 12 months 1 of a brand new deal. His raise has led to a seven-game season; the Pro Bowl pass rusher is now on season-ending IR. Higgins has played well when healthy, though he has sustained two concussions this season. It’ll be interesting to see if Burrow pushes for any additional moves, as many roster updates will probably be required after this wildly disappointing season.
Moreover, Dehner notes DC Al Golden is more more likely to stay than go in 2026. Although DVOA had Golden’s defense ranked because the worst in NFL history through 10 weeks, the Bengals have shown some improvement recently.
The team ranked last in EPA per drive and points allowed per drive before its bye week; it’s now twenty third and nineteenth in those categories, respectively, since. Those aren’t exactly impressive statistics, however the Bengals have employed Golden on multiple occasions. The previous Notre Dame staffer is more likely to be given a probability to repair the unit in 2026.
A stay-the-course path actually will probably be dangerous for the Bengals, who’ve seen some prime Burrow years squandered as a result of injuries, poor defensive performance and slow starts. It’ll be interesting to see if any real chatter about Burrow visiting the Carson Palmer playbook surfaces. In the intervening time, the high-end QB is just not taking any aggressive tactics with regard to his Cincinnati status. He may also keep playing despite Cincy’s playoff elimination, whilst one more season of his became defined by injury (this one turf toe). But loads of heat will probably be on the Bengals’ top decision-makers coming out of this double-digit loss season.