Bengals legends end up on the wrong side of Pro Football Hall of Fame history at no fault of their own
The Hall of Fame still doesn’t want more Cincinnati Bengals players in the building.
Like it’s been for 27 of the last 29 years, there will not be any former Cincinnati Bengals players enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year.
Former Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson and offensive tackle Willie Anderson each missed the cut for the class of 2026, which came out to be Drew Brees, Roger Craig, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly, and Adam Vinatieri.
Ken Anderson falls just short after coming so far
Ken Anderson was one of three senior finalists up for induction. The lone candidate to get the nod this year was Roger Craig, who played eight of his 11 years for the San Francisco 49ers and helped defeat Cincinnati in Super Bowl XXIII.
All three senior finalists could’ve been inducted if they received at least 40 votes from the 50-member panel. Anderson fell short of the 40-vote threshold, like coach finalist Bill Belichick, and contributor finalist Robert Kraft. There was a belief that the voters not voting in Belichick and Kraft committee would give Anderson a real chance to be voted in, but he just didn’t gain enough support.
This was the first time Anderson, now 76 years old, was a senior finalist. Anthony Munoz became the first Bengal inducted in the Hall when Anderson was last a modern-era candidate in 1998.
Munoz is still just one of two Bengals players enshrined in Canton, and the only one still living. Ken Riley was posthumously inducted in 2023, three years after his death.
Willie Anderson just can’t break through, but will be here next year
Willie Anderson has been a finalist for five consecutive years, and five times he’s been denied. He was in this position this year because he finished in the top seven of voting in 2025. That momentum wasn’t enough to join the four other modern era finalists, but he did finish in the top seven this year, per Bengals.com’s Geoff Hobson, and will be a finalist once again in 2027.
While Anderson doesn’t have an MVP trophy like the Anderson who came before him, he has four Pro Bowls and three All-Pros to his name as a right tackle.
Anderson, now 50 years old, being in the conversation for so many consecutive years bodes well for him eventually get in, but if the Hall continues its run of unnecessary exclusion, his path will only get harder.
The Hall of Fame is on a path no one should want
Only four candidates were inducted into the class of 2025, and with only five this year, the nine total inductees in a two-year span is the lowest the Hall will have enshrined in over 20 years.
“Stricter voting rules resulted in the second straight class with fewer than six inductees for the smallest back-to-back classes since 2004 and 2005.” — Bengals.com’s Geoff Hobson
An already exclusive club is becoming more exclusive, and for a franchise that already has to fight tooth and nail just for two inductees in its near 60-year history, Cincinnati can’t be fans of the current state of the institution.
Belichick and Kraft’s omissions this year have sparked much backlash toward how the Hall inducts candidates. The Bengals have been in this struggle for decades, and it will continue for another year with both Andersons.
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