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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.
According to Aaron Schatz of FTN Fantasy, the Bengals' defense, through their first 10 games of the season, is the worst unit in NFL history since 1978 by DVOA.
Bengals have the NFL's worst defense since 1978 through first 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)."
Congratulations to the #Bengals, who made it to the bottom. 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).
(Higher DVOA = More Offense) pic.twitter.com/Co8mObe7F9
The Bengals' defense has a 30.4% DVOA (the higher the DVOA%, the more offense they allow), which is by far the worst in NFL history since 1978. The next worst defense was the 2001 Arizona Cardinals, whose DVOA was 26.6%.
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.
While some of these scores were impacted by defensive turnovers, the Bengals have allowed 16, 27, 48, 28, 37, 27, 31, 39, 47, and 34 points this season. The majority have come from the offenses facing Cincinnati.
The Bengals have allowed 2,651 passing yards and 25 passing touchdowns through 10 games this season. On the ground, the Bengals have allowed 1,609 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns.
Both their run and pass defense rank in the bottom five in the NFL this season, as the Bengals' defense can't stop the run or the pass.
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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