Zac Taylor, Bengals Defense Must 'Find A Way' To Fix Historic Issues Following 47-42 Loss to Bears

Cincinnati is 3-6 on the season.

Oct 26, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase (1) shakes hands with head coach Zac Taylor during the fourth quarter against the New York Jets at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images | Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI —  Bengals head coach Zac Taylor has no answers for his historically awful defense after a 47-42 loss to the Bears, entering a bye week. Cincinnati now has the league's worst defense by EPA/play this century.

The Bengals are approaching 100 missed tackles this season as Taylor and the staff "fight" to "find a way" toward figuring out what is likely a lost season on that side of the ball.  They just allowed 576 yards to the Bears, the most in any NFL game this season.

A player's-only meeting clearly did nothing this week in the unit's worst performance all season.

"We've got to find a way to get them fixed," An exasperated Taylor said at the podium. "We are working like crazy. We're trying to do everything we can to get it done. And so again, that's all. It's not because of a lack of work, like trying to uncover every single stone to get it done, but it is tough. It's just been the result that we're dealing with. ... We just got to find a way to make a play, get off the field. No turnovers today, and they're going to finish plus two in the turnover battle today. Chicago is, and that's where all the wins have come from. And so you lose the game by five points."

Cincinnati is in brutal shape in the AFC North now, falling to third place with a gap growing again following Pittsburgh's upset win over the Colts on Sunday.

The Bengals' season isn't going anywhere until they can pull off the improbable and hold a team to a palatable point total. They just wasted a career-high 470-yard three-score outing from Joe Flacco.

"We just got to make one play, just one play. And some of these losses turn into wins," Taylor said about the loss. "And so again, we just got to, as coaches, find a way to help everybody and get it done. Because it's sick. It's sick to lose like that, sick. That's what happened. So we got to own it, and we got to keep finding ways to improve, and keep finding ways to find a win."

Taylor is going to keep showing up to work and try to find the magic fix on defense before facing the Steelers on Nov. 16.

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