The Cincinnati Bengals are now in their bye week after two disastrous losses in a row to the New York Jets and Chicago Bears.

The Bengals were on pace to enter the bye with a 5-4 record, but now sit at 3-6 and in a seriously deep hole heading into the back half of the 2025 season.

During the ‘thrilling’ loss against the Bears, the Bengals lost veteran running back Samaje Perine after a brutal hip drop tackle by D’Marco Jackson during a kickoff return.

The NFL made an effort a few years ago to crack down on this hip drop and penalize players if it was textbook to prevent injuries.

Despite that effort, officiating has shown no commitment to throw a flag when it happens, and they continued that trend in the Bengals/Bears game last week.

Although no flag was thrown, Jackson was fined $6,111 for the hip-drop tackle that injured Perine, according to Jay Morrison.

Perine is now dealing with a high ankle sprain and will be ‘week to week’ according to head coach Zac Taylor.