Take the fork out of the Thanksgiving turkey and stick it in the Cincinnati Bengals. While not mathematically eliminated from postseason contention, Sunday’s 44-38 defeat at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers was the true last gasp for any sort of playoff hope that remained in the Queen City. It was also the latest porous defensive effort, which has proved to be the club’s demise in 2024. In fact, Zac Taylor’s defense has been historically bad.
According to CBS Sports Research, this is the sixth loss where the Bengals have allowed 25 or more points this season, the fourth loss where they’ve allowed at least 33 points, the third with 34 points allowed and the second where they’ve surrendered at least 38 points. All of those are either tied for the most in NFL history or now own the record outright. Cincinnati’s 27.8 points per game allowed in losses this season is also the most all time.
This inability to slow down opposing offenses has spoiled what has proven to be a highly productive season for Joe Burrow and the rest of the Cincy offense. In Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh, the Bengals quarterback threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns (also had an interception). Burrow has crossed the 300-yard, three-passing touchdown threshold in each of the last three games, and they’ve all come in losses. That makes him just the second quarterback all time to reach that high level of statistical output in losing efforts over a three-game stretch (Andrew Luck is the other).
To further drive the point home, the Bengals are 1-2 this season when scoring 38 or more points, while the rest of the NFL is 21-0 in those settings (h/t Dante Koplowitz-Fleming).
How did Cincy’s defensive unit tumble into this position? Part of it can be attributed to not getting output from their draft picks on that side of the ball comparable to where they were selected.
Going back to the 2021 draft, the Bengals have drafted nine defensive players inside the top 100 selections: Joseph Ossai (third round, 2021), Daxton Hill (first round, 2022), Cam Taylor-Britt (second round, 2022), Zachary Carter (third round 2022), Myles Murphy (first round, 2023), DJ Turner II (second round, 2023), Jordan Battle (third round, 2023), Kris Jenkins (second round, 2024), McKinnley Jackson (third round, 2024).
None of those players has sniffed a Pro Bowl or All-Pro nod, and some have even struggled to carve out a starting role for themselves. Defensive end Myles Murphy is the highest-drafted defensive player over that stretch and has yet to log a start in his 24 career games played. The inability to get contributions from the likes of Murphy and others along the defensive line to create a more consistent pass rush from someone other than Trey Hendrickson has been at the crux of their struggles.
As the Bengals play out the string of remaining games and begin doing a post-mortem analysis of where this season went array, most — if not all — the signs point to the defense, which will need to be addressed dramatically to prevent wasting another prime year of Burrow’s Super Bowl window.