TL;DR
- Cincinnati Bengals' defense is the worst in NFL history since 1978 based on DVOA.
- The Bengals' defense has a 30.4% DVOA, allowing the most offense in the league.
- This season, the Bengals' defense struggles against both the run and the pass.
- The Bengals are 3-7 after a Week 11 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Cincinnati Bengals are 3-7 on the 2025 season after a tough Week 11 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. While Aaron Rodgers departed the game early with an injury, the Bengals still struggled to stop the Steelers' offense.
It's been a rough season for the Bengals' defense, and their performance in the 34-12 loss to the Steelers in Week 11 made for some brutal NFL history.
The Bengals' defense ranks as the worst in NFL history since 1978, based on DVOA, according to Aaron Schatz of FTN Fantasy after their initial 10 games this season.
The Bengals' defense ranks as the NFL's worst since 1978 based on their performance through the initial 10 games.
"Congratulations to the Bengals, who made it to the bottom." Schatz posted on Twitter/X. "I wasn't sure this week's game with the Steelers was bad enough, but the Bengals now have the worst defensive DVOA ever measured (through 10 games)."
Kudos to the #Bengals for reaching the end. I doubted if this week's matchup against the Steelers was sufficiently poor, but the Bengals have now recorded the lowest defensive DVOA ever documented (over 10 games).
— Aaron Schatz 🏈 (@ASchatzNFL) November 17, 2025
(Higher DVOA = More Offense) pic.twitter.com/Co8mObe7F9
The Bengals' defense has a 30.4% DVOA, indicating they permit the most offense in the league, and this figure stands as the worst in NFL history dating back to 1978. The second-worst defense on record was the 2001 Arizona Cardinals, which recorded a 26.6% DVOA.
While Joe Flacco caused two defensive touchdowns, accounting for 14 of the Steelers' 34 points, the defense still allowed Pittsburgh to put up a solid day offensively with 20 points without their starting quarterback for most of the game.
Their previous few weeks were also stunning, as a late collapse to the Chicago Bears led multiple leaders for the Bengals to express their frustrations with the defense.
More: NFL writer highlights three brutal stats that show how bad the Bengals' defense is in 2025
With a loss to the New York Jets the week before, it was a rough two-week period for the Bengals' defense leading up to the bye and the NFL trade deadline.
The Bengals' defense has surrendered 16, 27, 48, 28, 37, 27, 31, 39, 47, and 34 points this season, with some of these totals influenced by defensive turnovers. Most of these points were scored by the offenses that played against Cincinnati.
Through 10 games this season, the Bengals have surrendered 2,651 passing yards and 25 passing touchdowns. Additionally, they've given up 1,609 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns.
This season, the Bengals' defense struggles against both the run and the pass, placing them in the bottom five of the NFL for both categories.
According to Schatz's DVOA, which "measures a team's efficiency by comparing success on every single play to a league average based on situation and opponent," the Bengals' defense is the worst in NFL history since 1978.
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