{"id":166521,"date":"2025-06-29T00:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T00:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/166521\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T00:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T00:38:08","slug":"bengals-under-microscope-as-pressure-mounts-for-hopeful-contender-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/166521\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals under \u2018microscope\u2019 as pressure mounts for hopeful contender"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few teams appear to face more pressure to make the playoffs and compete for a Super Bowl in 2025 than the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those Bengals<\/a> just missed the playoffs again last season after some bad luck and historically brutal defenses, spoiling an MVP-like season from Joe Burrow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Bleacher Report\u2019s Moe Moton<\/a>, not many teams face more pressure to contend in 2025. By that same measure, few coaches are under more pressure than Zac Taylor, too:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, Zac Taylor, though he’s an offensive-minded head coach, should be under immense pressure to get this team back in the mix as contenders. With the organization under a microscope, Cincinnati needs a strong season, or Taylor could lose his job.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Bengals, Shemar Stewart nuclear option includes 2026 NFL draft route<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bengals are certainly in a weird spot. Joe Burrow\u2019s offense has Ja\u2019Marr Chase and Tee Higgins for the long-term, which is a win-now situation. But the defense is undergoing a youth movement with new coordinator Al Golden, which could create some growing pains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the background, the team has the messy contract standoffs with All-Pro Trey Hendrickson and first-rounder Shemar Stewart, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no easy way to project the Bengals in 2025 right now. But most would probably agree that Taylor\u2019s seat could be warm heading into the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Bengals standouts after mandatory minicamp includes surprises<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Few teams appear to face more pressure to make the playoffs and compete for a Super Bowl in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[2338,2345,247,265,228,1574,227,256,2296,7,2339,2341,8886,20842,1573,1577,248,267,330,88,6,35196,245,338,9,266,8885,2978,2340,1503],"class_list":{"0":"post-166521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-al","9":"tag-al-golden","10":"tag-american","11":"tag-american-football","12":"tag-bengals","13":"tag-burrow","14":"tag-cincinnati","15":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","16":"tag-cincinnatibengals","17":"tag-football","18":"tag-golden","19":"tag-hendrickson","20":"tag-higgins","21":"tag-hub","22":"tag-joe","23":"tag-joe-burrow","24":"tag-national","25":"tag-national-sports","26":"tag-negative","27":"tag-news","28":"tag-nfl","29":"tag-nfl-hub","30":"tag-overall","31":"tag-overall-negative","32":"tag-sports","33":"tag-sports-news","34":"tag-tee","35":"tag-tee-higgins","36":"tag-trey","37":"tag-trey-hendrickson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114763864758412398","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}