A three-season playoff drought after two deep runs is cause for concern in Cincinnati.
Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin shares some of that consternation, but he has every bit of confidence in the talent on the roster and his ability to continue adding more to bounce back from the team's 6-11 record.
"I'd put our talent up against any team in the league," Tobin said in a Friday news conference, via the Dayton Daily News. "It's better than most. We've got to stay healthy, produce and not score nine times for our opponent. I'd put it up against any team in the league. We feel like we're a championship-caliber team. We're 6-11. I'm 6-11. 'How could you feel that way, you're an idiot.' That's the way I feel."
Offensively, Tobin certainly has a point. Wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins form one of the league's top pass-catching duos and are paid like it. Running back Chase Brown overcame an early-season slump to continue to prove himself as one of the more dynamic playmakers out of the backfield. Joe Burrow is an MVP-caliber quarterback.
The team's results haven't reflected that, however, especially as Burrow has been sabotaged by myriad injuries over the past several years. He missed nine games in 2025, a period during which the offense all but disappeared before the Bengals traded for veteran Joe Flacco to try to save the season. In 2023, the start of the Bengals' current drought, Burrow sat seven games.
An injury to such a superstar provides some explanation for Cincinnati's troubles, but the Bengals also missed the playoffs when Burrow played every game in 2024, a byproduct of a defense without the ability to stop -- or sometimes even slow -- opponents.
The Bengals ranked 25th in both points and yards allowed last season, after which they fired defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.
This season, their ranking dropped to 30th in points allowed and 31st in yards allowed under DC Al Golden. The unit tightened down the stretch, holding opponents to 24 or fewer points in five of the last six contests after doing so just once previously, but it was still an abysmal overall experience.
Cincy's defense also dealt with an injury to its biggest star. Pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, who had to rework a contract with the team toward the end of August following a contract dispute, missed 10 games.
Again, though, all teams deal with injuries. Despite the esteem with which Burrow and other top-tier Bengals players are held, they haven't seen the playoffs since the 2022 campaign, and are now coming off their first losing season since the quarterback's 2020 rookie season.
"It was frustrating, it was challenging, it was disappointing for all of us, but more importantly it was all those things for our fans," Tobin said of the season. "We feel that. That weighs on us. It hurts us, because we know they have high expectations for us. ... The group we put out there did not fulfill those expectations. It motivates us to be better to put a group out there that will make the city proud, that will finish games. We have a lot of work to do this offseason."
Tobin, who referred to Cincinnati's talent on defense as "emerging," must help that process along this offseason by infusing the roster with more impactful players on that side of the ball. It's also imperative to boost the offensive line to assure Burrow stays upright; his pass-protecting group was ranked 28th by PFF following the season.
The Bengals currently have the eighth-most cap space ($57.5 million) available, per Over The Cap, with eight 2026 draft picks, including the No. 10 overall pick.
They have the means to jump back into the mix if Tobin pulls the right strings this offseason. But unlike what the executive said, a 6-11 squad does not have the caliber of a champion. It's to be determined if the '26 Bengals end up closer to competing for a ring.
"All I can do is work us out of it," Tobin said. "We have done it before. ... We can add to the team in a lot of different areas. We have excellent scouts who give us the analysis. It's on us to make the right decisions."
