Joe Burrow calls Week 9 matchup vs. Raiders 'must-win' game; how Bengals got into such a dire situation

Cincinnati currently sits at 3-5 entering Week 9

The Cincinnati Bengals' season is on life support. And they know it. Entering Week 9, the Bengals find themselves with a 3-5 record, which has them sitting in third in the AFC North by a healthy margin. Meanwhile, they are currently slotted as the ninth seed in the AFC playoff picture at the midway point of the year. With a home matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders on deck for Sunday, Joe Burrow gave a sobering outlook of where his team is at. 

"This is a must-win game," Burrow said Wednesday, via NFL.com. "We're 3-5. You go to 3-6, then you gotta basically win out to get in. Urgency's very high every week from here on out."

At DraftKings Sportsbook, the Bengals are currently favored to miss the playoffs and, according to SportsLine's simulations, have just a 22.4% chance of reaching the postseason. So, a loss this Sunday would prove to be a devastating blow, if not a fatal one. 

"This is the situation that we find ourselves in," Burrow added. "We know what we have to do going forward, and we're going to attack that challenge to the best of our ability. And try to give ourselves the best chance to win with my play and try to continue to be as consistent as I can and try to find a win."

This is a rather remarkable turn of events for a Bengals team that was among the betting favorites to win Super Bowl LIX and is now clinging to hope of simply reaching the playoffs. How did we get here? What has gone wrong with this club? 

Well, the early-season struggles that have plagued the franchise for the past few years reared their head in 2024, beginning with an opening loss to the New England Patriots. That was a matchup filled with mental errors and stagnant play on offense. Cincinnati was more competitive the following two weeks against Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Commanders but suffered the same fate and dropped to 0-3 to begin the year. 

While the Bengals have since been able to get into the win column three times, it's hardly impressive. Cincy has simply beaten up on bad teams, as those clubs have a combined record of 5-19 this season. That ability to beat inferior competition may help them this Sunday against a 2-6 Raiders team, but it is a scary outlook for the rest of the season. Five of their remaining eight games after Week 9 -- including two with the AFC North-leading Steelers -- are against teams currently above .500. 

Offensively, Burrow has been remarkably efficient as he's completing 70.3% of his passes this season with a 106.5 passer rating. He's also thrown for multiple touchdowns in five of his last seven games. The running game's struggles have helped make this unit one-dimensional, however,  ranking 28th in the league in rushing yards per game (89.8) and 26th in yards per rush attempt (4.1). 

Meanwhile, the defense has been among the worst in the league in a trio of key areas. The unit's 12 sacks on the year rank 29th in the NFL, and has been inefficient getting off the field on third down and in the red area. The Bengals rank 27th in opponent third-down conversion rate (45.3%) and in red zone touchdown rate (66.7%). 

No matter if Burrow and the offense light it up, the inability to get off the field and prevent touchdowns are the Achilles heels of Cincinnati at the moment and were on full display in last week's loss to Philadelphia (6-for-11 on third down and 3-for-5 in the red zone). 

Now that they are in these "must-win" situations, those areas will need to improve for the Bengals to salvage this season.