The Cincinnati Bengals have endured agonizing losses over the past two weeks, both falling late in the fourth quarter due to a defense that has struggled to make key stops.
Cincinnati fell 39-38 to the New York Jets and then 47-42 to the Chicago Bears, dropping to 3-6 this season — all without star quarterback Joe Burrow, who is still rehabbing the toe injury he suffered in Week 2.
Yet the offense hasn’t been the problem. With veteran Joe Flacco leading the unit, the Bengals have one of the most productive offenses in football. The issue lies squarely on the defensive side, where Cincinnati currently ranks as the worst in the NFL by a wide margin.
Notably, the team has the highest missed tackle rate in the league, and the top three players in total missed tackles — Jordan Battle, Demetrius Knight Jr., and Geno Stone — all come from the Bengals’ defense.
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With the team now firmly on the outside of playoff contention, concerns are growing that Burrow might hesitate to return if Cincinnati isn’t competing when he’s healthy. If that scenario plays out, it would mark the third consecutive season the Bengals miss the playoffs after back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances in 2021 and 2022.
Amid the turmoil, former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky believes Burrow is wasting his prime years in Cincinnati. With the current state of the team — especially defensively — Orlovsky said Burrow should demand a trade.
“If I were Joe Burrow, I would want out of Cincinnati… Yes. If I were Joe Burrow,” Orlovsky told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “But that doesn’t mean Cincinnati would be obliging to that.”
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Adam Schefter weighed in on the discussion, noting that if Joe Burrow were to request a trade from Cincinnati, it would be “over” for the Bengals.
“That’s where it gets interesting, because if that’s what he wants — and we have no idea what he wants — but if that’s what he wants, it’s over. It’s over,” Schefter said.
Despite the speculation, Burrow has given no indication that he intends to leave Cincinnati. He was instrumental in pushing the front office to re-sign Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins last offseason, which ultimately limited the team’s ability to invest more heavily in the defense — a unit that has repeatedly underperformed over the past two seasons.
Additionally, Burrow is under a massive five-year, $275 million contract extension signed in 2023, leaving him under team control for several more seasons. That gives the Bengals significant leverage should a trade request ever come to fruition.
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