Ben Child
CINCINNATI — In latest seasons, the Cincinnati Bengals have been among the many groups thought of contenders to win the AFC. That may not be the case coming into the 2025 season.
After two consecutive seasons with out postseason play, the Bengals try to get again to the division- and championship-winning type they confirmed in 2021 and 2022. And the dearth of latest success seems to have dinged the workforce's notion.
“I definitely suppose that the narrative surrounding our workforce has shifted,” quarterback Joe Burrow stated on Wednesday. “I am undecided I might say most to show. I might say that we definitely try to exit and win as a lot as we will. We're placing in a number of work for it.”
Final season marked the primary time Burrow performed in each recreation of the season and Cincinnati didn't make the playoffs. The Bengals went 9-8 and have been eradicated from postseason rivalry on the ultimate week of the common season.
Profession years from Burrow, extensive receiver Ja'Marr Chase and defensive finish Trey Hendrickson have been squandered as a mix of things led to Cincinnati lacking the playoffs.
The shift in exterior notion is not misplaced on veteran security Tycen Anderson.
“Actually, we get just a little sense of it,” Anderson informed ESPN after Wednesday's follow. “Clearly, we all know that final season was disappointing on our facet of the ball, however we do not actually care what everyone's saying. We all know we obtained the fellows in right here that is going to get the job executed.”
Cincinnati opens the season Sunday towards the Cleveland Browns. Since 2019, the Bengals have only one win within the opening two weeks of the season, the worst profitable proportion within the NFL throughout that span of video games.
Earlier than Wednesday's follow, coach Zac Taylor was requested about managing the rising exterior expectations, particularly for a workforce that has a quarterback of Burrow's caliber.
In 2021, Burrow's second season within the league, Cincinnati misplaced the Tremendous Bowl to the Los Angeles Rams. The Bengals adopted that up with a repeat journey to the AFC Championship Sport in 2022, the place they misplaced a rematch with the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs.
That success, adopted by the dearth of postseason journeys in every of the previous two years, units the context for Cincinnati's upcoming season.
“What we anticipate from ourselves is to be the perfect and to be on the high on the finish,” Taylor stated. “And so there isn't any exterior something anyone can say or suppose that is completely different than the stress we placed on ourselves.”
Having Burrow at full power to start out the season might be a primary for Cincinnati since his rookie 12 months in 2020, which featured no preseason video games and restrictive COVID-19 protocols.
From a well being standpoint, he believes he is in a great spot heading into his sixth NFL season. And he is excited to show the Bengals have the potential to outperform expectations.
“Displaying everybody the work you place in over the past eight months to make your self higher in entrance of the world, that is what sports activities are,” Burrow stated. “That is why we love them. And I am excited to placed on a present.”
