The Bengals entered week 15 with their season hanging on by a thread, needing a win to keep it alive. The defence started out pretty well, but the offence laid an egg from beginning to end. Before long, the wheels throughout the lineup fell off, and the Ravens were able to coast to an easy shutout win. With the playoffs now officially out of reach, the focus turns further to individual evaluation. Who is standing out as potential pieces of the future, and who is falling behind?
The Good:
DE, Myles Murphy
It has been a disappointing season for the Bengals, but when Murphy started to show some flashes a few weeks ago, it was a silver lining and provided some hope for his future. As the weeks have passed, he has continued to show improvement, and was again one of the team’s standouts in week 15. Against the Ravens, he racked up 2 sacks and had 5 total pressures. He was noticeable on a consistent basis, and really seems to have turned a corner.
LB, Demetrius Knight
Knight has often ended up at the other end of this article, but this was probably the best performance of his rookie season. He looked a bit more instinctive, and really was able to get after the QB. Like Murphy, Knight had 2 sacks. He also made a few plays against the run, and was a big part of some of the early defensive stops.
WR, Ja’Marr Chase
Chase had a couple of drops, and funny enough, sort of seemed to be having a quiet day. Perhaps it was just the overall flow of the game that caused this perception, and the team’s inability to finish drives sucked out some of the excitement. Because 10 receptions for 132 yards certainly isn’t quiet. With Higgins out, Chase took on a huge role, and Burrow looked his way often. Despite the drops, you can’t complain with this performance.
CB, Daxton Hill
After breaking out last year, Hill’s 2025 season has been a bit more of a rollercoaster. Some good games, some bad. But he was one of the top defenders in week 15, not allowing a single catch, or even being targeted. Now, the Ravens did have a low volume passing attack in this particular game, but Hill’s performance should still be noted.
The Bad:
Depth Receivers
With Higgins out, some of the depth guys have been getting more opportunities. However, they were not able to make much of them. Mitchell Tinsley only caught 1 pass for 16 yards, while Andrei Iosivas failed to catch his only target. The TE’s did make a handful of catches, but the volume wasn’t significant enough to explain the lack of production for Iosivas and Tinsley. Their ineffectiveness forced Burrow to lean heavily on Chase, who was targeted 16 times.
OT, Orlando Brown
The offensive line as a whole had really stepped up for the Bengals in recent weeks. But some members came back down to earth in week 15. It wasn’t a horrific performance like we saw a few times early in the year, but Brown did allow 3 pressures, and was much less effective in both phases.
G, Dalton Risner
Risner, meanwhile, was responsible for a sack given up, as well as 3 pressures to match Brown’s number. He also wasn’t great in the run game, showing a dropoff from previous weeks.
QB, Joe Burrow
Overall, it wasn’t the worst game for Burrow. However, for the second straight week, we had a couple of very questionable decisions. The big one against the Ravens was his interception in the redzone that was returned for a TD. In fairness, he did have pressure in his face, but the decision was still poor. On a day where the Bengals got shutout, Burrow threw 2 picks.
HC, Zac Taylor
Taylor again seemed to have his team unprepared. For an offensive coach to have no answers in the redzone, and to get shutout at home, it is hard to get much worse than that. Coupled with many clock management issues and other uninspired performances on the defensive side, his seat should be getting hotter by the minute. But when asked such questions, he refuses to take accountability.
CB, DJ Turner
Of the members in the secondary, Turner was among the worst. It is all relative, as again, the Ravens didn’t attempt too many passes. But given the volume, Turner gave up a few of the chunk plays that Baltimore was able to pick up.
