The Cincinnati Bengals are led by one of the best quarterbacks on the planet, Joe Burrow.

Despite that, Cincy didn't make the playoffs last year. And that's even with Burrow throwing to superstar Ja'Marr Chase and elite Batman's Robin WR Tee Higgins.

There are two problems here, and Cincinnati is at least somewhat responsible for both: the defense and the offensive line.

Let's start with defense, where the Bengals have simply not invested enough and not hit on enough draft picks.

They're currently in the process of butchering things further, too. Trey Hendrickson wants a new deal, and the Bengals aren't paying him. If Hendrickson sits out any games, Cincy's defense will be even worse without its by-far best defender (17.5 sacks each of the past two seasons).

The offensive line is simply incompetent. Check out this stat from NFL analyst Warren Sharp:

I don't even know what to say

this is ridiculous

Bengals OL rank in pass block win rate by year:

2021: #30
2022: #30
2023: #27
2024: #32

no other OL comes close to this putrid

only OL to rank #25 or worse 4 straight years pic.twitter.com/fO5ZOb8AXT

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) May 31, 2025

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Burrow takes a lot of sacks, but you can't really blame him when you look at those numbers.

Especially considering Burrow's injury history, Cincinnati has to block better. It's really imperative toward getting the Bengals back to a Super Bowl and having a chance to win it.

In the meantime, Cincinnati is letting down the best quarterback it has ever had.

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