Sports Media Legend RIPS Bengals For One Key Reason Entering 2025 Season

CINCINNATI — ESPN's Stephen A. Smith hasn't pulled any punches towards the Bengals this offseason, and that continued on Wednesday. He emphatically thinks the team wasting Joe Burrow's prime years.

The team has failed to make the playoffs each of the past two seasons, going 9-8 in both. Burrow did suffer a season-ending injury in the middle of the 2023 campaign to bring those win tallies down.

"You're damn right they are," Smith said on ESPN's First Take about Burrow's prime getting wasted. "In 2021, when they went to the Super Bowl, they were a middle-of-the-road defense. They were like 17th in scoring, 18th in yards allowed. Let's look at them now. I mean, when you look at them now, they're putrid to say the least, 26th-ranked scoring defense, 31st in total defense. When you just look at them right now, over the last two seasons, it's abysmal. And in the meantime, since 2021 these are the numbers on Joe Burrow, completion percentage: number one in the league, pass yards per game: number one in the league, touchdown passes: third behind Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, passer rating: second only to Brock Purdy and postseason wins: five, tied for third behind Mahomes and Jalen Hurts. That's it.

"This is what Joe Burrow has done, yet they've missed the playoffs the last two years. Why? Because both were 9-8 records. The defense ranked 26th in the league in scoring, 31st in total defense. Clearly, that is the issue with them. And when you know this and still, you've done close to nothing to improve the defense, to improve giving him just a chance to get this team over the hump, I think that's what's egregious."

The Bengals did add T.J. Slaton and Oren Burks to the defense in free agency this past offseason, but those players aren't likely to take them immediately from one of the league's worst units to above average or better.

Average is the goal, and that hasn't been on the table so far in a preseason where the first-team defense has been gashed for huge plays multiple times in both games. The defensive calls may be vanilla and simple, but it's still not a great sign.

Especially if this defense doesn't have Trey Hendrickson on the field to start the season due to his contract situation. The Bengals feel a lot like the 2010s Saints with Drew Brees right now, save for one big difference—New Orleans had already won Super Bowl XLIV by that point.

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