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Bengals Lose to Winless Jets, Fans Ramp Up Criticism
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Bengals Lose to Winless Jets, Fans Ramp Up Criticism

Originally posted on Last Word On Sports
By Drew Crabtree  |  Last updated Oct 26, 2025 5:08 PM ET

A game in which the Cincinnati Bengals held five separate two-score leads over the winless New York Jets has rekindled the fanbase’s anger. Led by Joe Flacco, the Bengals’ offense looked good. The run game was finally getting going. In this one, Samaje Perine and Chase Brown combined for 167 yards and two touchdowns at nearly eight yards per carry. Scoring 38 points should result in a win. This year, five teams have scored 38 points in a game. The Bengals are the only team to lose.

There are very real, very concerning issues on this team. It all starts from the top, but you can’t fire an ownership group (unfortunately).

The Bengals’ defense is atrocious. There is no good way of putting it. Cincinnati allowed 39 points against the Jets. The Jets. The Jets came into this one averaging 18.4 points per game. Again, they allowed 502 yards. The Jets’ offense was averaging 271 yards per game.

As a result, fans are airing out their grievances on Twitter. Zac Taylor has been the head coach for the Bengals since 2018. He has a lifetime record of 49-57-1. “But Burrow was hurt!” Without Burrow, Taylor’s record craters to 9-27. And that doesn’t include the games in which Burrow left the game due to injury.

Al Golden was hired to fix the defense. It’s worse than it was last year. It’s not wholly on his shoulders, obviously. The Bengals cannot draft well. On that defense, there are 12 players selected in the first three rounds of the draft. Outside of Trey Hendrickson, there is no pass rush (with TWO first-round picks). DJ Turner has had a good start to this year, but outside of him, the secondary is rough. The linebackers are a glaring weakness.

Plain and simple, Bengals fans are tired.

Bengals Lose to Winless Jets, Fans Ramp Up Criticism

It all starts with the head coach. Taylor is, naturally, the largest target of most of the ire of the fanbase:

At the same time, fans are calling for Golden’s job. A predictable hire from the jump, Golden was the Bengals’ linebackers coach in 2020 and 2021 before heading back to the college game. His defenses at Notre Dame were solid…but his final game was a 34-23 loss to Ohio State.

Can you fire an owner? No, and firing Duke Tobin likely wouldn’t change anything, either. The Bengals cannot draft to save their life. Their scouting department is tiny, the ownership doesn’t care about winning, and even if you give Tobin the benefit of the doubt as a GM handcuffed by cheap owners, the team has whiffed on every draft pick not named Burrow, Chase, or Higgins. Maybe there needs to be a change there:

Now What?

Trey Hendrickson was knocked out of the game right before half, and it was obvious. Neither of the Bengals’ first-round pass rushers can get pressure. The Bengals were facing what could be considered the worst starting quarterback in the NFL, and let him throw for 244 yards and a touchdown while making not one, but TWO two-point conversions.

All in all, losing isn’t the end of the world. However, how they lost and to whom they lost is the issue. The Jets are tanking for a franchise quarterback. Their defense is just as bad. And yet, Cincinnati was out-gained 502-to-398. The Bengals didn’t sack Fields once. Bryce Hall ran for 133 yards and two touchdowns while adding a passing touchdown. Against an offense as bad as the Jets’, the Bengals managed three tackles for loss.

Blowing multiple two-score leads to the worst team in the NFL is an issue. For franchises that care about winning and building around generational talents on offense, there would be plans to move on.

For the Bengals, it’s business as usual. Do you think Mike Brown even knew there was a game today?

This article first appeared on Last Word On Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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