A total of seven trades were pulled off on the final day before the trade deadline passed and the Cincinnati Bengals were part of just one of them.

That trade saw the Bengals ship linebacker Logan Wilson to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a seventh-round pick. That trade was hardly surprising considering the fact that Wilson was disgruntled over his reduced role and had demanded a trade.

Rumors swirled that star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson might get moved, which led many to wonder if the Bengals might start tearing things down, or at least trade their best defender.

That never happened, and now we know why. According to The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr., Cincinnati was never going to wave the white flag on 2025, which is what the team would’ve been doing by trading Hendrickson.

“The Bengals were not going to wave the white flag on this season. That is one fact they have been consistent about forever almost no matter the circumstance,” Dehner Jr. explained.

Of course, the Wilson trade wasn’t the only one the Bengals were involved in, as they also acquired Joe Flacco from the Cleveland Browns in a trade they hope can keep them afloat until Joe Burrow gets back in mid-December.

But the Bengals are now 3-6 entering their bye and their playoff hopes are on life support.

The win over the Pittsburgh Steelers provided a spark, but that spark is long gone after devastating losses in back-to-back weeks to the New York Jets and Chicago Bears.

Both of those losses exposed the Bengals’ biggest problem, which is their defense, a unit that is no better than it was before the deadline. In fact, it’s arguably worse after the Bengals traded Wilson, which gives them less depth.

Maybe Cincinnati’s defense can turn things around in the second half, but we would NOT hold our breath for that to happen.