It was a disappointing year, to say the least.

Cincinnati Bengals v Baltimore Ravens / Cooper Neill/GettyImages

After back-to-back appearances in the AFC Championship Game, the Cincinnati Bengals won’t be partaking in the playoffs this year. They finished the season at 9-8 despite at one point sitting at 5-3 and then later at 8-6 with their playoff chances looking likely at that point.

Sadly, it fell apart in the final month of the season. Let’s take a look at the big reasons why Cincinnati will be watching the playoffs from home this year rather than participating.

Division and conference record

It’s hard to make the playoffs when a team can’t win games in their division or conference. The Bengals finished the 2023 season with one measly win in their division, which came in the final game of the season and against Browns backups and third-stringers.

Cincinnati didn’t win their first conference game until Week 9 when they bested the Bills on Sunday Night Football. They ended with just four conference wins by the end of the season with those wins coming against the Bills, Jaguars, Colts, and Browns.

Conference wins are important when it comes to tiebreakers for the playoffs and that’s ultimately what did the Bengals in. Division wins are also important and the Bengals were swept by two teams in the division. They had no way of getting into the postseason after they lost to the Chiefs because the Steelers also won, meaning there was no way Cincinnati could pass them in the standings.

Zac Taylor has struggled mightily in the division since becoming the Bengals head coach in 2019 and this is something he needs to improve in if this team wants to become a legitimate threat again.

Regressing defense

People were relieved when Lou Anarumo didn’t get picked up by another team for a head coaching job last offseason because of how great the defense has performed under him during these past few years. Unfortunately, the unit regressed mightily this season and it cost the team dearly.

The defense led the league in explosive plays allowed and the run defense was abysmal, giving up the sixth-most yards per game, according to Team Rankings.

A big issue for the Bengals defensively this season was that their secondary was young and inexperienced. They lost both of their starting safeties over the offseason and it was clear, even late in the season, that Dax Hill was still taking his lumps.

The pass rush wasn’t as strong as fans were hoping it’d be either, as aside from Trey Hendrickson, no one really stepped up to be a legitimate threat in that department. As we’ve seen from the rest of the division, building the trenches is the key to winning games. The Bengals haven’t done that and that needs to be a point of emphasis this spring.

Joe Burrow injuries

The biggest reason why the Bengals missed the playoffs this year had to be due to the injuries Joe Burrow suffered throughout the season. On the second day of training camp, he went down with a tweaked calf, which kept him out for the rest of training camp and all of preseason.

Burrow managed to be ready for the season opener but he didn’t look anything like his normal self. It was clear that the calf was bothering him and the Bengals suffered as a result, ending up with a 1-3 record through the first four weeks of the season.

While Burrow’s calf ultimately got better, another injury hit the former number one overall pick and this time, it ended his season. At that point, the Bengals were 5-4 and firmly in the playoff picture when they headed to Baltimore for a key AFC North showdown.

Burrow went down in the first half and didn’t return for the rest of the game. The following day, fans learned the heartbreaking reality that Burrow had a torn ligament in his wrist and would be out for the season. It felt like that was the end of Cincinnati’s Super Bowl and playoff hopes this season but Jake Browning ended up helping the team get to an 8-6 record.

From there, however, the wheels fell off. Had Burrow been healthy, the Bengals still might not win the AFC North due to how tough it was this season but they likely win one or two more games with him out there instead of Browning.

Burrow will be back in 2024 but the fact of the matter is that he’s now had two season-ending injuries in his young NFL career. When he’s healthy, Burrow is one of the best quarterbacks in the league and the Bengals are a Super Bowl contender. Burrow staying healthy will also be even more important now that he’s been paid like a franchise quarterback.

Source : https://stripehype.com/posts/3-reasons-bengals-ultimately-fell-short-postseason-this-year-01hkjcza3989