Who Dey Nation is hoping for the best but bracing for the worst after seeing its star pass rusher go down.

Cincinnati Bengals v Cleveland Browns – NFL 2025 | Gregory Shamus/GettyImages

The Cincinnati Bengals beating the Jacksonville Jaguars to improve to 2-0 to start the 2025 NFL campaign feels like a lifetime ago. Much has changed, but there’s one thing the club has done consistently since then: losing.

Cincinnati continues to pile up defeats, dropping its fourth straight contest at the hands of the Green Bay Packers. However, with star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson suffering a back injury in Week 6, the Bengals’ biggest catastrophe transcends the box score.

It wasn’t long before the Bengals ruled Hendrickson out after initially deeming him questionable to return against the Packers, which is never a good sign. It’s an ominous, concerning development that could seal the team’s fate if he’s forced to miss additional time.

Bengals’ playoff hopes hanging by a thread after Trey Hendrickson injury vs. Packers

With Hendrickson, the Bengals ranked 30th in points and yards allowed per game entering their disappointing result in Green Bay. That alone should tell folks everything they need to know about Cincy’s defensive woes; this sinking ship cannot afford to lose its captain.

Saying the Bengals’ playoff hopes this season are vanishing isn’t news, considering they’re heading nowhere quickly. The situation has gotten so dire that Cincy turned to recently benched 40-year-old quarterback Joe Flacco as a savior. Hendrickson going on the shelf would mark the virtual dagger.

Flacco unsurprisingly didn’t give the Bengals the spark they desperately needed, though their offense looked much more competent with him under center versus Green Bay. Nevertheless, Cincinnati boasts a bottom-tier scoring unit, further amplifying any potential Hendrickson absence.

Despite a well-chronicled contract dispute that spilled well into the summer, Hendrickson has immediately picked up where he left off last season. He notched eight quarterback hits, four sacks, one pass deflection and one forced fumble through five-plus games before going down. Pro Football Focus lists the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) runner-up as one of the highest-graded players at his position ($).

Few can disrupt opposing quarterbacks like Hendrickson. He trails only 2021 and 2023 DPOYs/AFC North rivals T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett in sacks since 2020 (74.5). For context, there’s a sizable gap between the game-wrecking trio and the rest of the league in this category across this decade.