NFL columnist believes Bengals are under the most pressure to make the playoffs this season because of one obvious reason

Every year the Cincinnati Bengals don't play in the postseason with a healthy Joe Burrow quarterbacking the team, it's going to be viewed as a failure.

And rightfully so.

Elite QBs are the most valuable commodities in football, and if they play up to their status and can't punch a ticket for the playoffs, the blame is not going to reside on his shoulder pads.

Cincinnati missed the postseason in 2024 despite Burrow playing a complete (and elite) season for the first time in his five-year career. Repeating that in 2025 is the No. 1 outcome that needs to be avoided.

It's why NFL.com's Judy Battista has the Bengals under the most pressure to make the playoffs this year.

Every season of Joe Burrow’s career that ends without a playoff appearance is a missed opportunity and a squandering of one of the best players in the game. The Bengals have spent the offseason behaving like a team that believes it is close. They kept their championship-caliber offense intact, with contracts for Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. They need to solve the contract standoff with reigning NFL sacks leader Trey Hendrickson, which threatens to linger deep into the summer. Even modest defensive improvement from last season should be enough to push the Bengals into the playoffs -- everybody remembers how dangerous the offense looked in the second half of the 2024 season -- but the most immediate challenge begins much sooner. - NFL.com's Judy Bautista

Hendrickson's contract conundrum remains at large, but with Chase and Higgins paid and minimal free agency activity elsewhere, the Bengals did act like a club that's only one or two moves away from winning it all. Whether that's actually true or not will have us looking back at how they spent the last five months.

And that only adds more pressure on everyone around Burrow.

Cincinnati can rely on its QB to handle business down the stretch, but not even he is immune to criticism for how he begins the season. Slow starts have plagued this team over the last three years and it's become a top priority to be solved. It's why Battista mentions how training camp and preseason goes will be worth monitoring.   

For the Bengals to go anywhere, they have to eliminate their penchant for slow starts. Burrow’s good health certainly helps that effort, but limiting contract distractions like Hendrickson's is also important. It’s also worth paying attention to how the Bengals handle participation in training camp practices and preseason games.

Good things happened when the Bengals made the playoffs with Burrow. Their two trips from 2021-22 have seen them win more postseason games than any AFC North team has in the last ten years.

Simply making it to the final 14 is the task in front of them. Understandably, no team needs to get it done more.