The Cincinnati Bengals have spent most of the post-merger era proving a simple point: one elite unit can carry a team a long way.
Since the 1970 merger, Cincinnati has finished in the top 10 in both total offense and total defense five times across 56 seasons. Only half of those seasons ended with a playoff berth, and just one of those came in the last 38 seasons. More often, the Bengals have leaned on one side of the ball while the other lagged behind in the bottom half of the league.
That history gives the 2026 Bengals a pretty clear blueprint. The offense looks capable of landing in the top 10 again, while the defense is trying to turn an offseason full of big swings into a jump from 31st to something far more usable.
For the purposes of this discussion, total offense and total defense are based on average yards gained or allowed per game. If you switch to scoring offense and scoring defense - points scored and allowed per game - the picture is similar, though the recent playoff results are a little stronger. There have been seven such top-10 scoring seasons for Cincinnati, and five of them ended in the postseason.
The question that sparked the look back came from X user @npelley: “Probably a pretty easy one to look up, but I would love to know the defensive rank of every Bengals team that has made the playoffs and/or the average defense rank of every team that has made the playoffs since 2020.”
The Bengals’ best balanced seasons tell part of the story. In the years when Cincinnati landed in the top 10 in both total offense and total defense, those rankings looked like this. The same goes for the seasons when the team was top 10 in scoring average on both sides.
But the more revealing part is how the defense has looked in the Bengals’ deepest runs.
In 2021, Cincinnati was 13th in total offense and 18th in total defense. In scoring, the Bengals were seventh on offense and 17th on defense. That defense sat in the bottom half of the league in both measures.
The 1988 team was even more extreme on offense. Cincinnati finished first in total offense, but only 15th in total defense.
With just 28 teams in the league that year, that still meant the defense was in the bottom half. The scoring numbers matched that split: first on offense, 16th on defense.
The 1981 Bengals were more balanced. They ranked second in total offense and 12th in total defense, while also checking in third in scoring offense and 12th in scoring defense.
Cincinnati has also reached the postseason with some rough rankings on both sides. In 2009, the Bengals were 24th in total offense and 22nd in scoring offense. In 2005, they were 28th in total defense and 22nd in scoring defense.
The larger point is hard to miss: if one unit is weak enough, the other side can still drag the team into the tournament.
Looking at the most recent Super Bowl teams gives a sharper modern benchmark. The Seahawks were eighth in total offense and sixth in total defense, with third in scoring offense and first in scoring defense.
The Patriots were third and eighth in yards, then second and fourth in scoring. The Eagles were eighth and first in yards, then seventh and second in points.
The Chiefs were 16th and ninth in yards, then 15th and fourth in points. Another Chiefs team was ninth and second in yards, with 15th and second in points.
The 49ers were second and eighth in yards, then third and third in points. Another Chiefs team was first and 11th in yards, then first and 16th in points.
The Eagles were third and second in yards, then third and eighth in points. The Rams were ninth and 17th in yards, then seventh and 15th in points.
The Bengals’ 2021 team, by comparison, finished 13th and 18th in yards and seventh and 17th in points.
Since 2000, the league has also tracked points per drive, which often tells the story better than raw yards or points. Cincinnati has finished top 10 in offensive and defensive points per drive twice, and both seasons ended in playoff berths.
Over the last 10 Super Bowl teams, 12 of the 20 team-seasons finished top 10 in both offensive and defensive points per drive. Seven of the 10 champions did as well, with the Chiefs accounting for the three exceptions.
The Bengals’ offensive points-per-drive finishes over the last three seasons were 13th, eighth and 14th.
So the real question for 2026 is straightforward: can Cincinnati crack the top 10 on both sides in points per drive? If it can, the source material makes the case that it could be pointing toward something special in Cincinnati.
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Cook brings a veteran resume and the kind of versatility teams need when offenses keep forcing safeties into different jobs on the same drive. Bates, meanwhile, has become the kind of steady presence Cincinnati wanted in the middle of the defense, and the bigger question now is how much more the Bengals can get out of that pairing as the rest of the AFC keeps loading up on matchup problems. [Read more 🡒]