CINCINNATI -- In the past two Decembers, the Bengals have played as well as any team in the NFL.
But each year, it has not mattered. A late-season flourish hasn't been enough to keep the franchise from missing the playoffs.
It has been three years since Cincinnati made the postseason and was a true championship contender. This year, like in 2023, a major injury to quarterback Joe Burrow played a role in those shortcomings.
But that's only part of the story. For too much of the season, Cincinnati showed the hallmarks of a bad football team. And the team quietly soft launched a rebuild that leaned on the team's 2025 draft class.
Cincinnati failed to produce a team that could support Burrow and wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase, two of the best players in the NFL at their respective positions. And ultimately, that's why the Bengals are spending another year watching the postseason on TV.
The past two years prove that the entire franchise needs to do more.
"It doesn't matter if we're both putting our all into the season," said Chase, who recalled that he led the NFL in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns in 2024, but the Bengals missed the playoffs. "It's still a team effort."
The biggest storyline of the season was Burrow's health. He missed nine games with a turf toe injury that he suffered in Week 2. Cincinnati went 1-8 without Burrow, dooming their playoff chances.
But yet again, there were questions about how well the roster was constructed around its elite players.
One of the biggest moves came ahead of Week 6. Bengals coach Zac Taylor opted to bench veteran linebacker Logan Wilson in favor of rookie Barrett Carter. Wilson was a team captain who is also known as the "green dot," the player who relays playcalls into the defensive huddle. Wilson was eventually traded to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a seventh-round pick.
"It was a little bit unexpected when we decided to start Barrett," Bengals assistant coach Mike Hodges said. "I could maybe see that transitioning happening, but I didn't think Logan was necessarily hurting us. He wasn't playing up to his par either."
That paired Carter next to another rookie linebacker, Demetrius Knight Jr. For Hodges, the rookie pairing was virtually unprecedented. And over the course of the season, both players have grown considerably.
"You see the development there," Hodges said. "The reality is starting two rookie linebackers in the NFL is an extremely challenging task. And both guys didn't flinch."
Heading into Week 18, Cincinnati's 2025 rookie class has combined for 49 starts this season, with Knight headlining that group with 13 starts.
With the end of the season near, Taylor had a clear vision of what he hoped the growing pains would yield.
"That it's helping us win games," Taylor said. "That's the biggest thing for me."
But Cincinnati didn't finish the year with enough victories to be a playoff team. The biggest whiffs were back-to-back home losses to the New York Jets and Chicago Bears. By that point, Cincinnati had settled in with Joe Flacco at quarterback in place of Burrow. Flacco, who was acquired ahead of Week 6 via trade with the Cleveland Browns, helped flip the offense while Burrow was out.
At one point in the fourth quarter against the Jets, Cincinnati had a 97.5% chance of winning, per ESPN Analytics. Against the Bears, the Bengals were slotted with an 85.9% win probability with less than a minute left. But Cincinnati lost those games.
It showed that even if Burrow were healthy, the team couldn't work around a major problem. The roster, as constructed this season, didn't have enough quality players. That was something Burrow and Chase indirectly addressed in the final week of the regular season.
When citing factors that need to change, Burrow mentioned current players becoming championship-caliber performers or bringing in new players who can reach that level. On Thursday, Chase said the problems ailing the team were "obvious" without getting into specifics.
But for the second straight year, Cincinnati figured things out too late. And as Burrow openly discussed his feelings of discontentment amid a difficult year, finding answers will be critical if Cincinnati wants to make the most of Burrow's talent.
And he will leave it to those in charge of making those decisions as he works this offseason to get the Bengals back into a championship window.
"I want to be a quarterback," Burrow said. "I don't want to work in the front office. I don't want to be scouting guys in the offseason. I want to do what I do. And I want to do it at a high level."