The Cincinnati Bengals are sitting at 3-2 during their Week 6 bye, and the shape of this season has been a little different than the usual Bengals headache. Yes, there have been frustrations.
Yes, a couple of plays here or there could easily have flipped those two losses into wins. But the biggest surprises through five games have leaned more positive than negative, which is not exactly how this story has gone in recent years.
The biggest jolt has been Chase Brown’s drop-off. After looking like a player who was building year by year, Brown has been far less effective in 2026.
He hasn’t created much on his own, hasn’t shown enough burst once he breaks free, and hasn’t made enough happen after contact to justify the way the Bengals have used him. The run game as a whole hasn’t helped much, either, with only a half-butt commitment to running more from under center.
After the bye, Samaje Perine deserves the lead role.
That’s a tough swing from where the expectation stood entering the season. With Joe Burrow back, Brown another year into his career, and the offensive line intact, there was reason to think the running game could take a step.
Instead, it’s been a major letdown. Brown, who had previously been just an average runner by efficiency, has been straight up bad this year.
On the other side of the ball, Barrett Carter has at least given the Bengals something to work with. That wasn’t an especially high bar after last season, and he still has plenty of issues.
He misses too many tackles and doesn’t always fit the run well, and the back seven has had enough mixed results to raise questions about his role as the green-dot linebacker. But in coverage, Carter has taken real steps forward.
He’s been stickier in space, quicker to diagnose, and faster to trigger. Even when he doesn’t finish the play himself, he’s often done enough to slow things down for help to arrive.
The tackling problems around him remain a problem, though, because the Bengals keep finding ways to be bad at that on defense. Still, the current situation looks a lot less dire than it did before the bye. Cincinnati even picked up Al Golden’s former Notre Dame linebacker, Jack Kiser, who was drafted 12 picks before Carter.
What’s also notable this year is that the Bengals seem a little less willing to dig in just for the sake of it. In the past, they often looked content to ride out mistakes.
Not this time. Ke'Shawn Williams was released after his punt-return miscues in the Pittsburgh game, even though he later returned to the taxi squad.
Brown was eventually replaced by Perine after the running game stalled. And with Shemar Stewart, the Bengals have not forced extra snaps simply because he was the 17th overall pick last year; instead, they’ve leaned more on Cedric Johnson and Cashius Howell.
That same shift applies to linebacker, where the team went into the year with zero outside competition in the room. Swayze Bozeman gave them a surprise boost before landing on IR, and now Kiser is part of the picture.
The takeaway is pretty clear: this group is showing more urgency than the Bengals teams of the past, and Joe Burrow’s repeated push for urgency has clearly landed. With the bye here, the message is simple enough.
The Bengals can’t afford to keep waiting around. Time is of the essence.
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Bengals Fans Have Real Draft Reasons To Watch Ohio State-Indiana
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Bryan Cooks Bengals Role Just Got Even More Emotional
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Cooks role comes against the backdrop of a Bengals season still taking shape, with the early returns from the draft class under the microscope and a matchup with the Tennessee Titans coming up soon. Around the league, roster movement is happening everywhere, but Cincinnatis interest is more immediate: how quickly the defense can get healthy, how the younger additions hold up, and how much Cook can matter once the games get tighter. [Read more 🡒]