Instant Reaction: Cardinals Embarrassed by Bengals

In a season that’s been anything but positive, the Arizona Cardinals‘ 37-14 beatdown at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals on the road Sunday may stand alone in terms of embarrassment.

While the Cardinals have not been able to string together any semblance of true competitiveness of late, Sunday’s game quickly turned ugly — and stayed ugly for the duration. There was little garbage-time offense to be found, as Arizona scored a season-low 14 points in the wake of a complete meltdown by their struggling defense.

Cardinals Throttled by Bengals

From the very beginning, Bengals QB Joe Burrow looked comfortable and efficient. Arizona’s defense could not hang with the likes of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Chase Brown.

To an extent, that was understandable and expected. But as the game progressed, it became more than simple star power going against the Cardinals. They continued to struggle with routine tackles. The little amount of pressure they could muster on Burrow turned into wide-open completions.

Arizona allowed Burrow to complete 77% of his passes (24-for-31) for 305 yards and three touchdowns, yet no Cincinnati receiver recorded more than 60 yards. That isn’t simply the result of a matchup deficiency — there were wide-open targets available to any and all opposing pass-catchers.

The rough defensive performance came to a true low point when the Bengals drew up a pass to OL Cody Ford, who was wide open on a hitch route. Somehow, the Cardinals could not bring Ford down after a very short completion, and he rumbled for a 21-yard gain.

That play essentially summed up the Cardinals’ defense in recent weeks: no matter who is running routes against Arizona, they find open space. No matter how short of the sticks the completion may be, significant yards after contact come as an automatic result. Both the coverage and tackling were poor on Sunday — as they both have been for weeks.

Yes, the Cardinals are banged-up, missing starters and clearly demotivated. Those are understandable contributing factors. But to be manhandled week in and week out, regardless of their opponent, is an extremely tough result to explain away by pointing to personnel deficiencies.

And offensively, Arizona could not put together a competent effort, despite facing the worst scoring defense in the NFL. Cincinnati was allowing 30.5 points per game, and the Cardinals put up a season-low in points. They have not scored more than 20 since week 12 against Jacksonville.

Jacoby Brissett struggled with accuracy, while Arizona ran for only 42 total yards. They went 3-and-out five times, while only managing two scoring drives, for a total of 233 offensive yards.

With that said, the understated bright spots belonged to the usual suspects. Star TE Trey McBride, with his 10 receptions, 76 yards and a touchdown on the day passed former Cardinal Zach Ertz for the most receptions in a season in NFL history, totaling 119 with a game left on the schedule. Michael Wilson inched closer to a 1,000-yard campaign with 89 yards and a score of his own.

But these losses simply continue to compound. The effort on display has not been a product worthy of much confidence from Cardinals fans. Losing games is one thing, but losing to worse and worse blowouts by the week will make 2026 a difficult sell — even if wholesale changes are made.

The Cardinals simply do not look like a team capable of matching up with even some of the weaker teams in the NFL in their current state. Yes, they’re injured, but they’re simply not performing or executing at a fundamental level. With only one week to go, Arizona has lost eight straight, and is in danger of a 1-14 end to their abysmal 2025 season.