Summary

On March 13, the Bengals joined most other NFL teams by announcing that their facility would close the following week due to the COVID-19 pandemic and that employees would be working remotely. As the pandemic continued to spread throughout the country and states began widespread shutdowns of businesses deemed "non-essential," the NFL soon mandated that all teams' facilities — no matter their location — remain closed until further notice. As a result, the entire NFL offseason program — everything between voluntary workouts in April and mandatory minicamp in June — was conducted online, as sports leagues in the U.S. remained shut down until mid-summer.

The 2020 NFL Draft was held virtually, and the Bengals selected Louisiana State QB and Athens, Ohio-native Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL's first-ever virtual draft. A few days later, the Bengals released Andy Dalton, the team's starting QB the previous nine seasons (2011-19), signaling the official shift to Burrow, who arrived with much fan anticipation after having arguably the greatest season ever by a college QB (he set numerous SEC and NCAA records, won the Heisman Trophy by the largest margin in its 85-year history and led LSU to an undefeated season and national championship).

The Bengals welcomed a limited number of employees back into the office on May 20, after a more than two-month closure of the facility. Numerous precautions were put into place and maintained for the rest of the year, such as the mandatory wearing of facemasks and the social distancing of workspaces. The NFL and NFLPA reached an agreement late in July regarding COVID-19 protocols for the season, and players began reporting to team facilities for pre-training camp physicals the last week of July. Full training camp practices didn't begin until mid-August, and the NFL and NFLPA eventually agreed to cancel all preseason games as a precaution. The league and the union also agreed to test for COVID-19 among players, coaches and select football staff each day at team facilities. Additionally, everyone in the testing protocol was required to wear an electronic tracker at all times while at team facilities, which would trace and identify all persons in close contact with any individual who tested positive. Some NFL states/cities permitted a limited number of fans to attend games, while others did not allow fans at all.

The Bengals opened their season at home against the L.A. Chargers in the first and only NFL game ever held in Cincinnati without fans. The team did so to comply with an order from the State of Ohio to limit mass gatherings, however that order was later loosened, and the Bengals hosted between 6000 and 11,000 fans at their seven remaining home games. The Bengals struggled to a 4-11-1 record in 2020, though Burrow was among the team's bright spots as he got off to one of the most productive statistical starts to a career by a QB in league history. He had been on pace to smash several team and NFL rookie records, but in Game 10, Nov. 22 at Washington he suffered a torn ACL when an offensive lineman fell onto his left knee after a pass attempt.

Cincinnati, which at the time had shown signs of a turnaround and was entering a stretch of games against several sub-.500 teams, turned to backup Brandon Allen and finished 2-4 over the final six contests. One of those two late wins, though, was considered among the biggest upsets of the season in the NFL, as third-string QB Ryan Finley filled in for the injured Allen on Monday Night Football and led a double-digit underdog Cincinnati to a 27-17 win over 11-2 Pittsburgh (the win snapped the Bengals' 11-game losing streak against the Steelers). The Bengals parted ways with a longtime veteran when it traded DE Carlos Dunlap to Seattle on Oct. 28. Dunlap had 82.5 career sacks at the time of the trade, just one shy of tying Eddie Edwards' team record of 83.5.

As the NFL season moved forward, many NFL teams faced COVID-19 positive tests, outbreaks and policy violations. Cincinnati, however, was among the few which emerged from the 2020 season relatively unscathed. The Bengals went without a single positive test from a player or coach through the first eight weeks of the regular season, and in total only nine players (including four on the practice squad or reserve lists) spent time on the team's Reserve/COVID-19 list at any point due to either a positive test or being deemed a close contact (missing only 15 combined games). Additionally, six Bengals assistant coaches missed a total of nine combined games. Most sports leagues on every level struggled with game cancellations due to the pandemic. In the NFL, numerous contests were postponed to Mondays, Tuesdays or even Wednesdays, while multiple teams lost their bye or were forced to re-arrange their schedule, but NFL guidelines proved effective as all 269 scheduled games (regular season and playoffs) ultimately were played. The Bengals were among the most fortunate teams, as all 16 of their regular-season games were played at their originally scheduled dates and times.

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2020 NFL Draft: April 23-25

Summary

The defending AFC Champion Bengals put together a second consecutive remarkable season which included a second straight AFC North Division title and a repeat appearance in the AFC Championship. Cincinnati finished the regular season 12-4, tying for the most wins in a season in team history. The team started the season with a 4-4 record heading into November, and then quickly evolved into one of the hottest teams in the NFL down the stretch. Cincinnati tied a franchise record with eight consecutive victories to close out the regular season, five of which came against teams that qualified for the playoffs the previous year. The Bengals, who during the win streak adopted the mantra "They Gotta Play US," claimed the AFC North crown prior to the regular-season finale. The team proceeded to extend its overall win streak to 10 after postseason wins vs. Baltimore in a Wild Card Playoff and at Buffalo in a Divisional Playoff. As they did after the 2021 season, the Bengals once again traveled to Kansas City to face the Chiefs in the AFC Championship, only this time they came up just short in a 23-20 loss to end the season.

The 2022 Bengals offense again was headlined by QB Joe Burrow, who in his third pro season further established himself as one of the league's elite signal callers. Burrow passed for 35 TDs, eclipsing his own team record of 34 set just one year earlier, while also ranking fifth in the NFL in both completions (414, also a team record) and passing yards (4475). He was selected to the Pro Bowl, as was his top target, second-year WR Ja'Marr Chase. Chase led the Bengals in receptions (87), receiving yards (1046) and receiving TDs (nine) during the regular season, despite missing four games due to injury, and he joined former WR A.J. Green as the only players in team history with consecutive 1000-yard receiving seasons to begin their careers. WR Tee Higgins had his second consecutive 1000-yard season with 74 receptions for 1029 yards and seven TDs, while WR Tyler Boyd added another 58 catches for 762 yards and five TDs. HB Joe Mixon totaled 1255 yards from scrimmage (814 rushing and 441 receiving) and nine total TDs. In the team's Game 9 win vs. Carolina, Mixon had a historic performance, rushing for 153 yards on 22 attempts (7.0-yard average) with four TDs, while also catching four passes for 58 yards and a TD. His five total TDs and 30 total points each set Bengals single-game records, and his four rushing scores tied former HB Corey Dillon for the team's single-game mark. Mixon's total of 211 yards from scrimmage also was a personal career high. The performance made him just the sixth player in the Super Bowl era with at least 200 scrimmage yards and five total TDs in a game, and just the third player in the Super Bowl era with at least four rushing TDs and one receiving TD in a game.

On defense in 2022, Cincinnati allowed just 20.1 points per game, the sixth-lowest average in the NFL, while it held opposing QBs to a league-low 58.9 completion percentage. The Bengals' defense boasted playmakers on all three levels, led by a line that spearheaded the NFL's seventh-ranked run defense (106.6). DE Trey Hendrickson had a team-leading eight sacks and three FFs to earn his second straight Pro Bowl nod. At LB, Logan Wilson and Germaine Pratt each set a career high in total tackles with 123 and 99, respectively, while also combining for 3.5 sacks and three INTs. The secondary featured a veteran safety duo in Jessie Bates III and Vonn Bell, who each had a career-best four INTs and started all 19 games through the regular and postseason. After starting CB Chidobe Awuzie suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 8, rookie CB Cam Taylor-Britt stepped in and quickly asserted himself as a foundational piece on the Bengals roster. Taylor-Britt had 55 tackles and six PDs in the regular season, then grabbed his first career INT to seal the team's Divisional Playoff win at Buffalo.

Cincinnati's Week 17 home contest against Buffalo was initially postponed and later canceled after Bills S Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field at Paycor Stadium early in the game. After receiving immediate emergency attention from the game's medical personnel, Hamlin was taken to a local hospital, where he stayed for one week before returning to a Buffalo medical facility to continue his recovery.

Cincinnati's postseason began with a 24-17 home Wild Card Playoff win over Baltimore which produced one of the most notable and iconic defensive plays in Bengals history. With the score tied 17-17 early in the fourth quarter and Baltimore at the Cincinnati one-yard line, Ravens QB Tyler Huntley attempted to reach the ball over a pile of linemen, but LB Logan Wilson knocked it out of his hands and into the arms of DE Sam Hubbard, who returned it 98 yards for a touchdown in what ended up being the game-deciding TD. It was the longest fumble return for a TD in NFL postseason history, and the longest score of any kind in Bengals postseason history. In a snowy Divisional Playoff the following week at Buffalo, the Bengals jumped out to a 14-0 lead and dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage to cruise to a 27- 10 victory. With the win, the Bengals became just the fourth team in NFL history to win both home and road playoff games in back-to-back seasons. In the AFC Championship game, seeking its second consecutive Super Bowl appearance, Cincinnati erased deficits of 10 points in the first half and seven points in the second, but ultimately came up short in a back-and-forth contest. In the game's final seconds, with the scored tied 20-20, an unnecessary roughness penalty called on the Bengals put the Chiefs in range for a game-winning kick, and K Harrison Butker converted a 45-yard FG with three seconds left to win the conference title for eventual Super Bowl LVII champion Kansas City.

In the season opener on Sept. 11 vs. Pittsburgh, K Evan McPherson set a new team record for longest FG in team history when he converted a 59-yarder. During a halftime ceremony at the team's Thursday Night Football home game against Miami on Sept. 29, the Bengals presented former OT Willie Anderson and former WR Isaac Curtis as the 2022 additions to the team's Ring of Honor, as voted by season ticket holders. The Miami game also served as the introduction of the team's new alternate white helmet, as well as the introduction of the first-ever White Bengal game — a "white-out" contest in which all the team's logos on the field were painted white, and in which fans throughout the stadium wore predominantly white-colored apparel. The Dolphins game was played in front of 67,260, establishing a new mark for the largest ever crowd to attend a sports event in Cincinnati. By the end of the 2022 season, Paycor Stadium had hosted over 65,000 fans in all eight home games during the regular season and postseason, with six of the attendance figures ranking among the top-10 in team history. On Feb. 9, during the NFL Honors awards show prior to Super Bowl LVII, former Bengals CB Ken Riley was officially named as part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2023. The announcement came posthumously for Riley, who passed away on June 7, 2020. In the team's record book, Riley's 65 career INTs still constitute the most dominant lead in any major category, nearly doubling the second-place total of 33. At the time of his retirement, that total of 65 INTs was the fourth most in NFL history, and it still stands tied for fifth most.

The 2022 offseason included two major facilities announcements for the Bengals. In April, the Cincinnati Planning Commission approved the team's application to build a temporary indoor practice facility southwest of the team's practice fields on the north bank of the Ohio River. Later in October, the team began to regularly utilize the structure, which was named the IEL Indoor Facility (after Cincinnati-based international logistics company and team sponsor Integrity Express Logistics). Then, on Aug. 9, three days prior to the preseason opener, Paul Brown Stadium was re-named Paycor Stadium when the team and Cincinnati-based human capital management company Paycor announced an expanded partnership which included stadium naming rights.

2022 was also the first year of the "White Bengal" uniforms. Featuring a brand new white helmet, the Bengals wore their whiteout uniforms in Week 4 against the Miami Dolphins on Thursday Night Football and in a Week 11 victory in Pittsburgh against the Steelers.

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The Cincinnati Bengals compiled their fourth consecutive season with a record above .500 in 2024, finishing at 9-8 overall. After falling to 4-8 in early December, the team rallied for five straight wins to close out the schedule and finished just shy of the AFC playoffs.

The 2024 Bengals season was highlighted by historic individual efforts put forth by fifth-year QB Joe Burrow, fourth-year WR Ja'Marr Chase and eighth-year DE Trey Hendrickson. Burrow led the NFL and set team single-season records in passing attempts (652), completions (460), passing yards (4918) and TD passes (43). He passed for at least 250 yards and three TDs in eight consecutive games from Weeks 9-17, the longest such streak in league history, and was named AFC Offensive Player of the Month for both November and December/January. Chase became the sixth player in the Super Bowl era to claim the receiving "Triple Crown," as he led the NFL in receptions (127; team record), receiving yards (1708; team record) and receiving TDs (17; tied team record). He posted 100 or more receiving yards in five games. Chase earned his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl selection, was voted a unanimous first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press and was named a finalist for AP Offensive Player of the Year.

Steered by Burrow and Chase's connection, the Bengals led the NFL in passing offense (272.9 net passing yards per game) for the first time since 1975. Cincinnati in 2024 also ranked in the top 10 leaguewide in scoring (sixth, 27.8 points per game) and total yards (ninth, 365.5). Complementing Chase once again was fifth-year WR Tee Higgins, who amassed 73 catches for 911 yards and tied for sixth in the NFL with a career-best 10 receiving TDs. Hendrickson joined Chase as a four-time Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro in 2024, after leading the NFL with 17.5 sacks. That total matched his career high from the 2023 campaign and tied for the second-most in a season in team history, and he became the first Bengals player to lead the league in sacks since it became an official NFL statistic in 1982. Hendrickson had five multi-sack games and received two AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors (Weeks 9 and 18). In addition to the team's perennial star performers, Cincinnati saw several young players emerge as foundational pieces in 2024. Second-year HB Chase Brown contributed in both the run and pass game, posting 990 rushing yards and 360 receiving yards for 1350 total yards from scrimmage (17th in NFL). WR Andrei Iosivas furthered his development as another reliable option for Burrow with six TD catches and a career-high 479 receiving yards in his sophomore campaign. OT Amarius Mims, the team's first-round draft pick last April, started 13 games at ROT during his rookie season and garnered high praise from his coaches and teammates.

Each Bengals home contest in 2024 was played in front of an announced attendance figure of over 65,000, with two games — Week 8 vs. Philadelphia and Week 17 vs. Denver — ranking in the top five largest home crowds in team history. Cincinnati also played in five road games that kicked off in prime time (7 p.m. ET or later), the most by an NFL team since 1963. The Bengals collected a 3-2 record in those games, with wins in Week 6 at the N.Y. Giants, Week 14 at Dallas and Week 18 at Pittsburgh. Following the end of the regular season, the team made changes to its defensive coaching staff, headlined by Al Golden taking over as defensive coordinator. A former linebackers coach for the Bengals from 2020-21, Golden returned to Cincinnati following three seasons ('22-24) as defensive coordinator at the University of Notre Dame.

Cincinnati's Week 15 win at Tennessee marked the 400th regular-season victory in franchise history. The Bengals closed the 2024 regular season with 403 all-time wins, which include 242 in games played at home and 161 on the road. The first regular-season win in Bengals history came on Sept. 15, 1968, when they defeated the Denver Broncos 24-10 at Nippert Stadium on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. One hundred and seven Bengals regular season victories have come at Paycor Stadium (formerly Paul Brown Stadium).

Of the Bengals' nine road games in the 2024 season, five were played in "prime time," which the Elias Sports Bureau defines as a kickoff time of 7 p.m. ET or later. It marked the most road prime-time games played in a single season in NFL history, and tied for the most ever by any pro football team. The only other team to play five prime-time contests on the road is the 1963 Oakland Raiders of the American Football League. Cincinnati compiled a 3-2 record in its five road prime-time games, with wins coming in Week 6 at the N.Y. Giants (Sunday Night Football), Week 14 at Dallas (Monday Night Football), and Week 18 at Pittsburgh (played Saturday night at 8 p.m.). Both losses were one-score decisions — a 35-34 loss at Baltimore in Week 10 (Thursday Night Football), and a 34-27 loss at the L.A. Chargers in Week 11 (Sunday Night Football).

QB Joe Burrow was awarded the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year for 2024, as voted on by members of the Associated Press. Burrow, who previously received the honor for the 2021 season, joined former Miami/N.Y. Jets QB Chad Pennington (2006, '08) as the only players to win it twice in their career. Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury in Game 10 of the 2023 campaign, which required surgery and an extensive rehab process. He returned to action in time to start the 2024 preseason opener, and went on to set regular season team records while leading the NFL in passing attempts (652), completions (460), passing yards (4918) and TD passes (43). He earned his second career Pro Bowl selection, and was twice named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month (November, December/January). Burrow and former QB Jon Kitna (2003) are the only Comeback Player of the Year recipients in Bengals history. WR Ja'Marr Chase also took home a postseason honor for his performance in 2024, as he was voted one of two FedEx Air and Ground Players of the Year. The award was decided through a fan vote, and for the first time in its 22-year history, wide receivers and tight ends were eligible to be recognized in addition to quarterbacks and running backs. Chase, who became the sixth player in the Super Bowl era to claim the receiving "Triple Crown," was voted the FedEx Ground Player of the Week twice during the regular season (Weeks 5 and 10). He shared Air and Ground Player of the Year honors with Buffalo QB Josh Allen. Burrow and Chase accepted their awards at the NFL Honors ceremony on Feb. 6 in New Orleans.

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