CINCINNATI -- The next six games will be anything but a throwaway stretch for the Cincinnati Bengals.
On Thursday against the Baltimore Ravens, Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow is set to make his return after missing the past nine games with a turf toe injury.
The Bengals are 3-8 and on the verge of missing the playoffs for the third straight year. When healthy, Burrow has proved to be the franchise-altering quarterback the team hoped for when drafting him first overall in 2020. But over the past three years, Cincinnati has struggled to build a quality roster around him.
The Bengals have a 1% chance of making the playoffs, per ESPN Analytics. And for the final six games, Cincinnati will need to take stock of everything inside the building to see if it's good enough to support one of the NFL's truly transcendent quarterbacks.
"We're trying to maximize our guys," Bengals de facto general manager Duke Tobin told reporters in February. "When you have Joe Burrow, you're trying to fit it around him and give him the best chance to have a Hall of Fame career. And he's certainly capable of that."
So far in 2025, the Bengals have fallen short of that mark.
Between drafted players, additions in free agency and changes to the coaching staff, things haven't materialized as hoped. If anything, that was highlighted when Burrow was absent for the past two months.
After the Bengals traded for veteran quarterback Joe Flacco, the offense found the spark it was looking for. In six games with the Bengals, Flacco posted a 55.4 Total QBR, which is rated on a zero to 100 scale. That was his best mark since his 2014 season with the Baltimore Ravens (68.6).
The Bengals were unable to capitalize on that stretch and went 1-5 in Flacco's tenure as the starter. Bengals coach Zac Taylor said quarterback play wasn't what held the team back, and he was backed by statistics. The Bengals lost 39-38 to the New York Jets in Week 8 and 47-42 to the Chicago Bears in Week 9. According to ESPN Research, it was the second time since the 1966 Jets that a team scored 38 points or more in back-to-back weeks and lost. The reason? The Bengals finished Week 9 with the worst defense in the NFL in several statistical categories.
"There's several games I wish we would have finished as a team," Taylor said. "You can look at two back-to-back, where we were [close], just somebody in some phase making one play would have been the game and didn't get it done."
Just like last season, Cincinnati will need to evaluate which players can turn the team into a contender again. Defensive ends Trey Hendrickson and Joseph Ossai, as well as cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt are on expiring contracts. Hendrickson, a four-time Pro Bowler and an All-Pro player in 2024, is out indefinitely with a hip/pelvis injury. Taylor-Britt, is on injured reserve with a Lisfranc injury that requires surgery.
Since 2021, the Bengals have used 11 top 100 draft picks on defensive players, the third-highest total during that span, according to Pro Football Reference. Those players, such as defensive tackle McKinnley Jackson, are eager to show they can be building blocks moving forward.
"I know they picked guys up like me and others in the top 100 picks just to produce," said Jackson, who has been able to work his way back into the defensive rotation after not playing earlier this season.
Ultimately, the team has to find a way to build around the contracts for Burrow ($55 million annually), wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase ($40.25 million) and wide receiver Tee Higgins ($28.75 million).
One statement defined the expectations for the Bengals as long as Burrow is on the roster. After the Bengals beat the Ravens to close the 2022 regular season, Burrow established the yearly parameters for success -- championships or bust.
"The window is my whole career," Burrow said. "Things are going to change year to year, but our window is always open."
At the time, it felt that way. The Bengals, fresh off a Super Bowl appearance the previous year, closed the 2022 season with eight straight wins and went back to the AFC Championship Game. But since then, Cincinnati has missed the playoffs twice. Burrow has missed 16 games with injuries. And the days of a locker room filled with celebratory cigar smoke feel like a hazy memory.