Bengals Place Key Starter on Injury Report Ahead of Sunday Night's Game vs Steelers

The Bengals placed Dalton Risner on the injury report on Sunday morning ahead of their primetime contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Risner is officially listed as questionable due to an illness. Backup lineman Myles Hinton is also questionable due to an illness.

Jacob Bayer is listed as the Bengals' backup right guard. He would likely play if Risner can't suit up. The veteran lineman is a big part of what the Bengals have built in the trenches in their quest to protect Joe Burrow.

Confidence in Offensive Line

Dalton Joe — Nov 8, 2026; Madrid, ESP; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) celebrates with guard Dalton Risner (66) after scoring a touchdown during the second quarter against the Atlanta Falcons at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Bengals are as confident as they've ever been in their offensive line during the Burrow era. Head coach Zac Taylor heaped praise on the group earlier this week.

“We've just been so fortunate with continuity, and I think with every game that they play together, and every every rep they take, and every look they get together, they talk about it and they improve on it," Taylor said. "And if they don't get it right, it really bothers them and it bothers them to their core. And it's going to carry over to their Thursday night dinner and all the stuff that they do together. That's going to be a big topic of conversation. Anytime you’ve got linemen that take pride in that, probably more so in the negatives that they've had than the positives. That's a good thing for the coach because they want to clean that stuff up. And obviously, the way the amount of times we throw the football directly shows my confidence I have in our offensive line. Because if we weren't, if I didn't have that confidence, then we wouldn't do that. We'd be looking at other ways to manufacture yardage and points. And we operate the way we do because I got a lot of confidence in how they do it."

Burrow is completing 74% of his passes this season. He has thrown for 2,386 yards, 23 touchdowns and six interceptions. He's been sacked 15 times, which is less than two sacks per game in an offense where they're throwing the ball far more than anyone else.

"I think they're all playing at a really high level," Burrow said this week. "The cohesion that they have and the trust that they have and the relationships that they have upfront is fun to be around and fun to watch and fun to be a part of. Our offense is open to so many different things. We're more explosive than we have been in years and that plays a huge part of it. It's hard to push the ball down the field if you can't protect for that extra second, second and a half in order to do it. You can find ways to do it, but it's a lot harder. The guys that we have, I mean they're lights out, they're playing some of the best football in the league and got to continue to get better and continue to improve, but we're in a really good spot."

Tough Matchup

Sep 27, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward (97) pressures Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Bengals' offensive line was already going to be tested on Sunday night. The Steelers have one of the most talented and deep offensive lines in the NFL. Cris Collinsworth made it clear that Amarius Mims playing in 1-on-1 situations is critical for the Bengals to have success. It would be even more critical if Risner can't suit up on Sunday night.

"Amarius Mims has become that guy that can block one-on-one, the problem is that one-on-one this week is Amarius Mims against T.J. Watt," Collinsworth said on First Word. "They will take T.J. Watt and move him over to the other side a little bit, but it is really difficult to say 'I got T.J. Watt all day and nothing's going to happen', now he did well against him the last time out, but for all the stuff we want to talk about Aaron Rodgers and Joe Burrow and these receivers, I think that matchup may well decide the game."

For more on the matchup, watch the video below:

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