The Bengals never belonged in the playoffs, regardless of what the Chiefs did

Fans in Cincinnati were deep in their feels on Sunday afternoon with the Chiefs deciding to roll over, bench everyone of note, and let the Broncos into the playoffs as a result. It ensured the Bengals were left out of the picture, which naturally made Kansas City a point of blame.

For some reason there was a significant portion of Bengals fans who thought the Chiefs should play legitimate, high-quality football against the Broncos in the most meaningless game of the season. Kansas City locked up the No. 1 seed in the AFC, so they rested their starters in the same manner that the Eagles, Bills, Rams, Commanders, and Texans did. However, this very common practice of resting starters in Week 18 transformed into a forced narrative that the Chiefs were “scared” of Cincinnati, and “didn’t want to see Joe Burrow” in the playoffs.

It’s quaint, and football fans tend to imagine everything revolves around their team — but it’s also like this.

Bengals fans only have one organization to blame for them taking an early vacation and it’s the Bengals. Years of compounding problems, myriad defensive issues, and lackadaisical play at key points this season are why Cincinnati didn’t make the playoffs. If you need a handout from the Chiefs to get in, then it’s not deserved.

The worst part of all this is how badly the organization let down Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase. The two players gave us one of the most astounding seasons by a QB and WR, and it was utterly wasted. In a different circumstance, there’s no doubt Burrow would be an MVP candidate with his 4,918 yards, 43 TDs, and only 9 INTs. Instead, it’ll get lost to history, or simply remembered as the best passing season to result in nothing.

So what did cost Cincinnati a chance to keep playing? It comes down to four specific elements.

No. 1: Treating Week 1 like it was the preseason

No coach is worse at preparing his team for the start of the regular season than Zac Taylor. In his six seasons as head coach the Bengals’ record in September is an astonishingly bad 7-14-1. In the last three season, with the team actually being good, 35 percent of the team’s losses came in the opening month of the season.

In 2024 this was particularly bad. The Bengals sleepwalked into the regular season and got beat by the hopeless Patriots 16-10. Win this game and they’re in the playoffs right now. Then in Week 2 the team lost by one point to the Chiefs, with a missed field goal being the difference. Win that game and they’re in the playoffs. Week 3, another loss — this time to the Commanders. You see the pattern here.

The Bengals shot themselves in the foot before the season ever began by not being prepared to play football.

No. 2: Lou Anarumo’s defense

There are two parts to this problem. Firstly that the Bengals haven’t done anything to invest in their defense and make it better, which is a front office problem — but also when it comes to coaching it’s clear that defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo doesn’t have the talent required to make the most out of sub-par talent.

On average the Bengals offense scored 27.8 points-per-game this season, one of the best marks in the entire NFL. They allowed more than 30 points in a total of six games this season — all losses. It’s a simple numbers game, and Cincinnati was 27th in the NFL in points allowed. This isn’t a sustainable way to run a football team, by asking Burrow and Co. to bail this team out every single game because you can’t stop anything.

The NFL average for points allowed this year was 22.5 per game. The Bengals only held opponents under the league average six times.

No. 3: This was an easy schedule

Perhaps the biggest indictment of the Bengals failures in 2024 was how easy their out of division schedule was. Cincinnati had a -1.0 strength of schedule this season. Only four teams in the entire league (Eagles, Commanders, Dolphins, and Patriots) had an easier schedule than the Bengals did — and they squandered it.

Despite having this easy season the team only managed a +38 point differential across the season, which goes back to problem No. 2.

No. 4: Botched drafting

For as much credit as the early Zac Taylor era deserves for brilliant drafting, the last two years have been a mess. Look at their top six picks and their production over the last two seasons.

• Myles Murphy (No. 28, 2023): Now a backup DE with a PFF rating of 56.5 this season
• D.J. Turner (No. 60, 2023): Injured this season, but barely above average with a 67.8 PFF ranking
• Jordan Battle (No. 95, 2023): Starting safety, but one of the worst in the league by PFF rating with 53.1, good for 137th out of 169 rated safeties.
• Amarius Mims (No. 28, 2024): Backup right tackle with a PFF rating of 57.8 this season
• Kris Jenkins (No. 49, 2024): Rotational DT with a PFF rating of 45.4 this season, one of the worst in the NFL among DTs.
• Jermaine Burton (No. 80, 2024): Finished the season with 107 receiving yards. Decent return guy, but nothing special.

When you have drafts like this where you’re not able to find any meaningful talent you have a problem. It’s one thing not to find stars, but the Bengals didn’t even get decent starters. Not only did they scout players incorrectly, but they picked bad players and let better players get taken after them.

Horrendous failures by the front office.

There’s a silver lining to all this … hopefully

It’s sad to root for anyone to lose their jobs, but in the case of the Bengals heads have to roll to move things forward. The 2024 season has to be a wakeup call to the organization that the status quo is not working, and at this point the team is just wasting Joe Burrow’s best years.

Not making the playoffs could be the best thing to happen to the Bengals future.

Let’s look at the rest of the winners and losers around the NFL in Week 18.

Winner: Detroit Lions

No team had more to play for in Week 18 than the Lions and Vikings, with the bye in the NFC and the No. 1 seed hanging in the balance. This was monumentally important for Detroit, who now gain a week to try and get healthy before their Super Bowl quest begins.

There’s no doubt the Lions need to get some players back if possible, but it’s damn impressive how good they were in dispatching the Vikings with ease. It shows that this team can still beat the best of the NFL even in a weakened state, and that is so promising as they hit the playoffs now.

Offensively this team overcame Jared Goff interceptions to still score 41 points, while the defense made the Vikings’ fearsome offense look like kittens. Any rumors of Detroit’s demise were greatly exaggerated.

Loser: The Falcons and Jets experiments

There’s no doubt that the biggest letdowns in the NFL this season came from Atlanta and New York who believed their aging quarterbacks would get them over the hump and into a Super Bowl run like the Rams or Buccaneers.

Instead they’re both now rebuilding, new quarterbacks on the horizon — but at least the Falcons have one in hand, because Michael Penix Jr. is showing some promise.

Meanwhile the Jets are an utter mess. This team regressed in all areas, fired their coach through no fault of his own, and custom-built a team for Aaron Rodgers to run into the ground. Pathetic.

Winner: Bryce Young

The Panthers 2nd year QB had the best game of his career on Sunday by throwing for 251 yards and amassing five total touchdowns (three passing, two rushing) without turning the ball over.

Young has now thrown a touchdown pass 10 games in a row, and this is one of those rare occasions where getting a win in Week 18 is worth the lost two draft spots. There’s a lot to be said for confidence and making winning a habit. That’s what Carolina is hoping for here.

There’s a lot for Panthers fans to be excited for entering the 2025 offseason and beyond. This team can finally turn the corner and they’re trending upwards.