Bengals Defense Blows It Again Vs Bears

This week the Bengals were the team making the miraculous comeback, but the result was still the same: the Bengals couldn't get the stop they needed.

Well, at least the Cincinnati Bengals know how to keep these games interesting.  For the second straight week, the Bengals played in a game that came down to the wire, and for the second straight week, the Bengals proved they weren’t capable or competent enough to finish the job.  In the NFL, a common refrain after losses is that this loss was on the team, not an individual player or specific side of the ball.  Forget that: the Bengals 47 - 42 loss to the Chicago Bears was completely on the defense.

The Bengals defense is so bad it seems to defy every law of science and reason that exists.  There’s no explanation.

Some might argue it’s because of lack of investment, but one look at the Bengals starting defense makes that a shaky proposition: their starting eleven today included six players drafted within the first three rounds.  It’s not that the Bengals haven’t invested in their defense – they have, they just keep selecting terrible players.

So, there’s our answer, right?  The Bengals are bad at drafting.  That’s the only explanation for why this team is so bad on defense.

But even that theory has holes.  Drafting is notoriously difficult – even the best teams routinely miss on draft picks.  It should be expected that the Bengals might miss on a draft pick or two, but lately, they haven’t even come close.  Myles Murphy, Jordan Battle, Kris Jenkins, McKinnley Jackson, Joseph Ossai, Shemar Stewart, Demetrius Knight…all of these guys were taken within the first three rounds and within the last five years, and not one can be considered even an average player in this league.  Jackson, incredibly, requested a trade this past week, but who’s going to trade for a guy who can’t even see the field on this defense?

It’s impossible to overstate how bad the Bengals have become on defense.  They’ve allowed more than 250 rushing yards in two straight games.  Even last year’s abysmal defense was better than this: their season-high in 2024 was 175.  If last week’s effort against the run was atrocious (254 rushing yards allowed to the previously-winless New York Jets), the English language will need to come up with a new word to describe the Bengals effort against the Bears today.  The Bears rumbled for an astounding 283 rushing yards today – their most in a single-game since 1984.  The Bears franchise was still looking for their first Super Bowl back then!

Of course, as bad as the Bengals run defense was, their pass defense was the ultimate source of their pitiful demise.  After staging a near-miraculous comeback (more on that later), the Bengals defense promptly allowed a 58-yard back-breaking touchdown reception to Bears rookie tight end Colston Loveland, which featured some truly horrific tackling on the part of the Bengals safeties.  For two weeks, the Bengals have been begging their defense to get a single stop in a key moment, and for two weeks, the Bengals defense has found that idea absolutely preposterous.

But let’s rewind a bit: for a fleeting moment, this appeared to be the comeback of the year, and in favor of the Bengals, no less.

The Bears took a commanding 41 - 27 lead over the Bengals with 4:53 seconds left in the game following a two-play drive keyed by a 39-yard run by rookie running back Kyle Monangai, who finished with 176 rushing yards on the day.  On the Bengals next drive, quarterback Joe Flacco was intercepted in the red zone by Bears linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, and the game appeared to be all but sealed.  There was just 2:43 remaining in the game.  The Bengals were down two touchdowns.  This game was over.

And incredibly, it wasn’t.  The Bears went three-and-out on their next drive (just their second punt of the day), and 35 seconds later, the Bengals were in the endzone after Flacco found tight end Noah Fant for a 23-yard touchdown reception.  Flacco found Tee Higgins on the next play to convert the successful two-point try, and impossibly, the Bengals had the faintest sliver of hope.  Still, with 1:43 remaining, winning this game would require a successful on-side kick recovery, which no one had done successfully since the NFL implemented the new kickoff rules in 2024.  In fact, no one had recovered an on-side kick since 2019.

The Bengals erased that statistic.  The ball, which didn’t even travel the necessary ten-yards to be a legal on-side kick, barely hit the foot of a Bears player before Bengals linebacker Oren Burks fell on top of it.  It was the miracle play the Bengals needed.  Thanks to their previous two-point conversion, they were in a position to take the lead in the waning second.  They were about to do to the Bears what the Jets had done to them exactly one week ago.

Six plays later, Flacco found slot receiver Andrei Iosivas for a nine-yard touchdown.  The comeback was complete.  One week after losing in spectacular, come-from behind fashion, the Bengals were about to have the ultimate redemption with an even more improbable win of their own.

But, of course, the Bears had time left on the clock.  Not a lot – less than a minute – but against the Bengals defense, that’s more than enough.  To no one’s surprise, the Bears found the endzone on Loveland's 58-yard catch-and-run and that sealed the deal.  The Bengals had enough time to get into range for a somewhat reasonable Hail Mary attempt, but the Bears sent the house and Flacco’s underthrown pass was easily intercepted.  Ballgame.

This was, in essence, a heart-breaker game, but the reality is no one who’s been watching the Bengals play this year should have expected anything less from this defense.  They were never going to make a stop – that’s not who they are.  They’re every offenses’ get-right team.  They’re the team every offensive lineman can’t wait to see.  They’re the biggest pushovers in the entire sport.

This is, not surprisingly, catastrophic for the Bengals chances this season.  One of the most amazing stories of the season has been Flacco’s play since being traded to the Bengals, and this Sunday was no exception.  Flacco finished with 470 passing yards on the day, his new career-high, and the Bengals offense continued to hum like Joe Burrow never left.  And yet, as great as Flacco has been, expecting him to continue this level of play for the rest of the season is nonsensical.  He’s a fine player, but at 40-years-old, he didn’t suddenly become an All-Pro.  He’s going to have some bad days, and the Bengals defense certainly won’t be there to pick the offense up.

The Bengals are fortunate to be 3 - 6, and the last two weeks have been a reminder that, as much talent as the Bengals have on offense, it’s nothing compared to the lack of talent they have on defense.  Burrow’s injury isn’t even a valid excuse for this team’s struggles – they’re just as potent with Flacco as they’ve ever been.  The defense, on the other hand, has regressed to astonishing levels.

Now, the Bengals head into their bye-week beaten, broken, and demoralized.  Their win over the Pittsburgh Steelers was supposed to be their springboard back to relevance; instead, it’s all gone downhill faster than a two-year-old skier on a black diamond.

Last week’s loss to the Jets was a fire-everybody kind of loss.  Unsurprisingly, no one was fired.  This loss to the Bears was another fire-everybody kind of loss.  That’s back-to-back losses in which the colossal, systemic failure of the Bengals was painfully exposed.  This team isn’t broken – it’s worse than that.  Broken implies something can be fixed, but the entire design of this Bengals team is flawed.  Fixed or not, it can’t work, and because of that, the Bengals are on the verge of a third consecutive wasted season.