Story by
Bye week blowup: Bengals need firings, trades during break
- Story by
- Bye week blowup: Bengals need firings, trades during break
The Cincinnati Bengals enter the bye week 3-6 and with a historically bad defense despite reports confirming Joe Burrow is on track for a mid-December return. A return that, at this point, might not be worth attempting.
But the bye week presents an extended break and an opportunity to reset.
Advertisement
For these Bengals , there's no easy fix. Years of draft failures piled atop easy-to-see-coming mistakes, such as letting Jessie Bates walk, have put the organization in a hole.
The result is a historically bad unit:
The Bengals can, though, get to work on 2026 during the bye and ahead of Tuesday's NFL trade deadline.
Bengals need to fire coaches
Back in 2018, the Bengals fired Teryl Austin on November 12 after his defense coughed up three straight 500-plus yards games to make NFL history. The change wasn't an instant fix and the roster was much better than the 2025 edition right now.
But it was something .
Advertisement
One could argue firing Al Golden does nothing and they might be right. But it would send a message to the locker room and potentially get the lackluster depth chart invested in something new. It's a patchwork thing.
Golden's strange benching of veterans and throwing young guys to the wolves has backfired. And his unit appears to be failing in the very basic fundamentals like tackling, so the grounds for termination are there.
Looking for help from outside the organization isn't simple right now, but the bye week could help.
The Zac Taylor conversation happens in the offseason. This was his shot to reset the coaching staff and the results speak for themselves.
Advertisement
RELATED: Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase seems to agree with fans in behind-scenes rant
Bengals need to sell at NFL trade deadline
The Bengals aren't going to get the return they deserve on any player right now. Other teams have all the leverage, knowing the Bengals should be selling.
And yet, now would be the time to start overhauling the roster.
This isn't advocating for a Trey Hendrickson trade, either. Getting a bad return back compared to his value so that the current poor scouting department can make extra draft picks isn't a recipe for success.
But offloading players would make room for younger guys who might stick into 2026. See if Myles Murphy has any value. See if somebody will take the BJ Hill contract. Consider cuts at safety if no trades come up.
Advertisement
There's no single offseason fix to a problem like this. But leveraging the trade deadline on a bye week, getting new faces playing time for the remainder of the season, then attacking the unit all offseason might just work.
RELATED: Bengals weapon rips defense after pathetic showing vs. Bears
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bye week blowup: Bengals need firings, trades during break
