Week 16 · 2025–26 season
Bengals
W 45-21 at Dolphins · Dec 21, 2025
Misery Index · Miserable
Bengals fans noting the 45-burger arrived against a backup QB roughly eleven months too late to matter.
The emotional rollercoaster
Fan misery across the game window. Up is worse.
What happened
J.Burrow carved up Miami once D.Achane's 48-yard opening jog stopped mattering, hitting J.Chase, D.Sample, and S.Perine on the drives that flipped the game, and the third quarter was, by all accounts, delightful. The 45-point outburst in Week 16 only sharpens the obvious question fans have been screaming for months: where was this offense in September, October, and November, when it could have meant something?
What fans said
“Final Score: CIN 45, MIA 21”
u/nfl_gdt_bot▲ 91joy
“He’s going out put Rodger’s in a home first.”
u/DuckODeath▲ 46rage
“It just feels nice to win one. That third quarter was delightful.”
u/Pepi119▲ 67joy
“literally where the fuck was this the whole year”
u/sportsnstuff▲ 237frustration
“As long as Duke Tobin is here, any draft is already ruined.”
u/bronzedbimbo▲ 29rage
“Man it would have been really cool if this defense remotely existed when Flacco dropped 40 for like 5 weeks”
u/lmaoitsdusey▲ 39frustration
14 more
“If only we played the Dolphins (with a backup qb, no less) every week”
u/Storage_Ottoman▲ 136frustration
“Not Geno, send that mofo to the XFL or NFL Europe.”
u/cds727▲ 20rage
“Duke, Zac and Al’s jobs are safe, let’s all rejoice! /s”
u/Pale_WoIf▲ 111sarcasm
“Today marks officially 2 months sober for da kid so thanks to those who offered the kinds words of encouragement.”
u/AdImportant4476▲ 18joy
“I'm happy about most everything in this game. Now do it again.”
u/PrincessxMia▲ 18joy
“Season over nothing to play for. 4th and 2 and you do that lmfao.”
u/Krismichael_1995▲ 17despair
“Seriously? Why can't we play Quinn Ewers every week? Cmon guys. Don't buy this bullshit.”
u/Asidious66▲ 26frustration
“**SHEMAR STEWART HAS A TFL!!!**”
u/BeeWeird7940▲ 16joy
“Mike Brown being born is the worst thing to happen to this franchise”
u/whodey_andthebfish▲ 11rage
“I should banished from this teams fandom for ever saying we should have traded Tee.”
u/ImpinAintEZ_▲ 14despair
“How. Fucking HOW are they going to justify Zac Taylor keeping his job?”
u/BTsBaboonFarm▲ 14rage
“we are a horrible football team”
u/DTHhaunts▲ 10despair
“Nice having a stress free game to enjoy, WHO DEY 🐯”
u/wayneluke23▲ 13joy
“Nobody better than the Bengals at winning meaningless games after they're eliminated from playoff contention to damage draft position.”
u/kjc3274▲ 19frustration