CINCINNATI, Ohio \u2014 Only a few days after the end of the 2025 season, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin was still disappointed in one problem his team has had the last couple of seasons.<\/p>\n
Sitting before the Cincinnati media in a Friday press conference, the Bengals\u2019 director of player personnel didn\u2019t hide his emotions when asked about the team\u2019s maddening pattern of losing close games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt irritates me. It really irritates me,\u201d Tobin said. \u201cYou have to find ways to close games. And that has been our number one problem is when it comes time to close the game, we haven\u2019t closed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is more than just a passing annoyance. This is a man who feels the weight of 12 one-score losses over the past two seasons \u2013 defeats that turned potential playoff runs into bitter disappointments. For a franchise five years removed from a Super Bowl appearance, the inability to finish games has become a defining, infuriating characteristic.<\/p>\n
Tobin doesn\u2019t dance around the issue. While some executives might offer vague platitudes about \u201cgetting better\u201d or \u201cworking hard,\u201d he delivers a clinical diagnosis of exactly what\u2019s plaguing Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last two seasons have been derailed by critical moment execution errors, and we have to find the group of 11 to put out there that will execute in the critical moments,\u201d Tobin states plainly, identifying the root cause that has transformed a potential dynasty into a team watching the playoffs from home.<\/p>\n
What makes these failures particularly maddening is how close the Bengals have been. These weren\u2019t blowouts. They weren\u2019t games where Cincinnati was clearly outmatched. These were winnable contests that slipped away in the final moments.<\/p>\n