ESPN thinks the walls are quickly closing in on Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals’ chances of winning a Super Bowl
The Bengals have experienced some bad luck over the last few seasons to the point where ESPN thinks everyone, including Joe Burrow, has their back against the wall.
Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals haven’t been to the postseason in three years. Therefore, the team heads into a crucial 2026 season that has to produce results.
We’re talking about an AFC North championship and a playoff win, at minimum. In all honesty, the Bengals need to make a deep playoff run to really reach their ceiling, but we’re still too far out from the start of the season to have a serious conversation about that.
Regardless, ESPN’s Dan Graziano believes this is a do-or-die year for Joe Burrow and the Bengals, essentially and he recently explained why:
A lot of this is on Burrow, who needs to stay healthy to give the Bengals the best possible chance. But if he does, and if the defense still lets them down, leading to another missed playoffs, Zac Taylor’s eighth season as their head coach could very well turn out to be his last.
Cincinnati has spent a ton of money to keep the offense together the way Burrow wants it, and the front office has stretched its resources this offseason in uncharacteristic ways to try to fix the defense. With all of the other three teams in the AFC North in transition phases under new head coaches, the opportunity is there for the Bengals to return to the top of the division and compete for an AFC championship.
If they do not, you’re going to once again hear people on the outside wonder how long Burrow will want to be there. And next offseason could bring more significant roster and staff changes than we’ve seen in Cincinnati in a while.
dan graziano
ESPN
Just how long is Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ championship window open?
It’s an intriguing question, because when it comes to things like roster personnel and salary cap, the Bengals are set up pretty well through 2028. Their biggest cap hits are mostly rooted in base salaries with players that would make sense to extend at that point, which helps with cap management.
Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Orlando Brown Jr., Dexter Lawrence, Boye Mafe, and Bryan Cook are still under contract at that point. That’s a solid core of players that can help win a lot of games. Obviously, there will be additional turnover, along with new deals, that add and subtract the situation. The point still stands: The Bengals, currently on paper, have a multi-year window when it comes to being a competitive team.
Does that make them a contender, though? In 2026, the answer is a firm “no” simply based on what we know and what we’ve seen over the last few years. Burrow hasn’t been able to stay healthy, the defense has been bad, and the coaching has been questionable.
Is it realistic to think all that changes and the Bengals are suddenly back atop the AFC in one season? Burrow’s health can’t be controlled, to an extent, but the defense and overall coaching can improve. It has to start with Al Golden and Zach Taylor.
So, a lot of it does boil down to Joe Burrow, as it typically does when it comes to prognosticating the Bengals’ success. Either way, their Super Bowl window is not only shrinking, it’s currently barely cracked.
But they have the roster, at least offensively, to fling said window open and keep it there. We’ll just have to wait and see if it happens.