Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow is excited about the 2026 NFL Season
It’s been a long, painful road for the Cincinnati Bengals in recent years. Cincinnati finished 2025 at 6-11, largely because the defense was, frankly, a disaster. The unit ranked near the very bottom of the league in major defensive metrics.
At their lowest, the Bengals were blown out in back-to-back weeks by the New York Jets and Chicago Bears, losing both games despite the offense putting up 38 and 42 points, respectively.
A defense that was historically bad had become the team’s identity. And for a franchise that reached the Super Bowl just a few years prior, Cincinnati fans were rightfully upset by the team’s lack of progress.
Fast forward to May, and something appears to have shifted in Cincinnati and it’s hard to envision an offseason that could have left Bengals fans more optimistic.
The front office, long criticized for being passive, went to work. General manager Duke Tobin completely revamped the Bengals’ defense, the same unit that allowed the third-most points in the NFL last season.
The biggest splash was acquiring DT Dexter Lawrence via trade with the New York Giants. The three-time Pro Bowler is a run-stuffer who commands double teams and brings legitimate pass-rushing tools that should open up opportunities for fellow new arrivals DE Boye Mafe and DT Jonathan Allen along the defensive line.
Cincinnati also improved its secondary in free agency by adding Bryan Cook and Kyle Dugger at safety. As if that was not enough, the Bengals used their seven draft picks to reinforce its pass rush, improve its cornerback depth, and address other key areas of the offensive line.
These moves have earned the praise from players and fans, and franchise quarterback Joe Burrow looks pleased with what the organization has done so far.
“I'm really excited about the moves we made this offseason,” Burrow told Vanity Fair. “We need to get better, so it was exciting to see the initiative from everybody in the organization to realize that we’re in this exciting stage. We’re in our primes playing great football. Finding guys like Dexter and Bryan Cook ... to, you know, really solidify that defense so the young guys can also kind of rise up. We’re really going to try to achieve what we want to achieve.”
There’s perhaps more reason for Bengals fans to be excited: the team’s 2026 schedule. NFL analyst Warren Sharp rated Cincinnati as having the third-easiest schedule in 2026, and the third-largest year-over-year improvement in schedule difficulty.
The Bengals enter 2026 with the highest expectations the organization has had in years. Next season’s goals are pretty straightforward: improve on that 6-11 record, end a three-year playoff absence, reclaim the AFC North for the first time since 2022, and go all out for a Super Bowl title.
Burrow is healthy. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are still in their primes. The defense has a pulse again. In Cincinnati, that’s more than enough reason to believe.