{"id":692729,"date":"2026-01-21T03:17:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T03:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/692729\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T03:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T03:17:19","slug":"offseason-outlook-cincinnati-bengals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/692729\/","title":{"rendered":"Offseason Outlook: Cincinnati Bengals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After the Bengals missed the 2024 playoffs, they gave into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/B\/BurrJo01.htm?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.profootballrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-18_pfr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Joe Burrow<\/a>&#8216;s push to extend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/H\/HiggTe00.htm?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.profootballrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-18_pfr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tee Higgins<\/a>. While Cincinnati ensured its top-end wide receiver duo would remain intact, the team drifted further off the contender radar in 2025. Another Burrow injury cost Cincinnati, which also played much of the season without <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/H\/HendTr00.htm?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.profootballrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-18_pfr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trey Hendrickson<\/a>. Burrow stumped for a Hendrickson deal as well, but the Bengals did not budge there, setting up the four-time Pro Bowler to depart.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of the team&#8217;s Higgins-over-Hendrickson choice, it sits at a crossroads. The Bengals employ Burrow in his prime yet have missed three straight playoff brackets. This has caused some rumblings related to the quarterback&#8217;s happiness in Cincy. Although Burrow is widely expected to be back for a seventh season in Cincinnati, the clock is ticking on a regime that not too long ago was sitting pretty. This Bengals offseason stands to be pivotal as the organization looks to move back on track.<\/p>\n<p>Coaching\/front office moves:<\/p>\n<p>The Higgins swerve notwithstanding, the Bengals are not known to cave into player or fan pressure. Seeing recent trade requests rescinded serves as a reminder there. But unrest has certainly developed over the past three years. Since the Bengals ventured to the 2022 AFC championship game &#8212; the only instance of back-to-back AFC title game appearances in franchise history &#8212; they have missed the postseason with and without Burrow being healthy. While the team saw Burrow setbacks derail matters in 2023 and &#8217;25, its 2024 edition finishing 9-8 proved damning for Taylor&#8217;s operation. Cincinnati&#8217;s defense was somehow worse in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"landing-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/landing-logo.png\"\/><br \/>\n  Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription<\/p>\n<p>  &#13;<br \/>\n    Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Sam Robinson&#13;<br \/>\n    Join exclusive weekly live chats with Sam&#13;<br \/>\n    Remove ads and support our writers&#13;<\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballrumors.com\/membership?ref=389121\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the Bengals missed the 2024 playoffs, they gave into Joe Burrow&#8216;s push to extend Tee Higgins. While&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,67247,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-692729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-front-office-originals","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115930926613719325","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692729","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=692729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}