The 2025 NFL season was full of surprises. None of the top seven Super Bowl favorites even made it to the conference championship game, while a record-breaking five teams went from 11+ losses in 2024 to making the playoffs a year later.

Parity is healthy for the league, keeping it interesting, while every fanbase experiences an opportunity for their team to succeed. But there’s always an expectation for some teams to do better. Either because of big offseason acquisitions or consistent dynasties, some teams will enter the season with a lot of expectations. These are the teams that played below what they were expected to in 2025.

Cincinnati Bengals

Entering the 2025 season, the Cincinnati Bengals had the 10th-best odds to win the Super Bowl. They finished with a 6-11 record.

It’s not hard to pinpoint where it all went wrong for Cincinnati. Joe Burrow went out with a turf toe injury in Week 2, and the Bengals’ record has been free-falling since.

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Cincinnati’s roster isn’t built to win around anyone but Burrow. If the veteran quarterback isn’t in, the Bengals are likely out of contention. This isn’t rocket science; most teams will take a step back if their star quarterback goes down, but it’s more severe for Cincinnati.

The Bengals are paying Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins a combined $124 million per year. Are each of those players worth those contracts? Probably, but you have to make plenty of sacrifices to boast three players on a $28 m+ salary. Outside of their heavy hitters, the Bengals roster lacks quality talent.

Cincinnati’s roster features one of the worst defenses in the league, and its offensive line has failed to protect Burrow over his career.

The Bengals allowed 28.9 points per game in 2025, the third most in the NFL. With Burrow out, Cincinnati had to rely on backup quarterbacks to win in shootouts. First, it was Jake Browning, but the Bengals would make an in-division trade to acquire veteran Joe Flacco from the Cleveland Browns. In 9 starts, Browning and Flacco combined for one of the Bengals’ six wins.

It’s clear that if the Bengals aren’t capable of protecting Burrow and acquiring defensive talent, they’ll continue to disappoint.

Washington Commanders

The Washington Commanders entered the season with the 7th-best odds to win the Super Bowl. They finished with a 5-12 record.

Similar to Burrow, Jayden Daniels’ season was hindered by injury. But unlike his fellow LSU alumni, Daniels struggled to deliver wins when he was healthy. The second-year passer finished the season 2-5 as a starter.

The Commanders went all in on Daniels and their roster after his stellar rookie season. They invested the 14th-most in free agency, with a focus on acquiring veteran talent to surround Daniels with. Highlighted by a hefty three-year $45 million contract with defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw, Washington was generous to signees, to say the least.

Along with re-signing veteran pieces to hefty one-year deals, the Commanders made a big trade acquiring Deebo Samuel from the San Francisco 49ers, taking his $17.55 million cap hit.

This isn’t always a bad formula. Acquiring talent to surround your quarterback on a rookie deal opens up your Super Bowl window. But investing large amounts of money to turn around and win just five games after appearing in the NFC Championship will draw concerns. The Commanders jumped the gun on their spending.

It’s hard to say a team jumped the gun and got lucky by making it all the way to a conference championship game, and I don’t believe that’s the case. But Washington’s pursuit of winning a Super Bowl in year two rather than continuing to develop its young quarterback led to a lackluster five wins.

Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions entered the season with the fifth-best odds to win the Super Bowl. They finished with a 9-8 record.

The Lions’ season was plagued by injuries, but that wasn’t the reason for their falloff. When you find success for so long, teams will start to want to take parts of what made you successful. This took place for Detroit as they lost Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson to the Chicago Bears and Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn to the New York Jets.

A complete coaching overhaul is hard for any team to overcome. But it’s harder for the Lions as they lost both of their play-callers. Head Coach Dan Campbell famously didn’t call plays on either side of the ball.

The Lions hired John Morton to take over as offensive coordinator, but as the offense struggled, Campbell took over play-calling duties, and Morton was fired as the season ended. New Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard’s unit also didn’t perform well. While he remains with the team, there are internal talks about adding veteran leadership to the coaching staff.

Detroit’s roster on gameday also looked quite different from what it did in 2024. Along with losing key starters such as Za’Darius Smith, Carlton Davis III, and Kevin Zeitler, the injury bug got to the Lions. In a long list of starters lost to injuries, stars such as Kerby Joseph, Brian Branch, and Terrion Arnold all suffered season-ending injuries.

The Lions’ down season is a lot easier to come back from. They have the right guys in the building and have experienced consistent success, but they were major disappointments in 2025 after missing the playoffs.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs entered the season with the fourth-best odds to win the Super Bowl. They finished with a 6-11 record.

The Chiefs’ failure to make the playoffs is the most shocking. Patrick Mahomes has made the AFC Championship every season since he took over at quarterback. Battling through roster turnover, coaching changes, and injuries, he always found a way to win.

But that wasn’t the case this time. The Chiefs, who dominated in one-score games before, finished 1-9 in those games in 2025.

There were setbacks, of course. Rashee Rice started the year on a six-game suspension, and both starting tackles were injured and lost for the season, but this isn’t the first time Mahomes and Andy Reid have faced adversity. They’ve done more with less in the past, yet they somehow couldn’t find success and reach the playoffs.

The Chiefs were knocked out of playoff contention after their Week 15 loss. The same week, Mahomes suffered a torn ACL.

For other teams, you can pinpoint what the problem was, and the Chiefs had plenty of excuses, too. But this is the first time Mahomes and company weren’t able to find a way.

Baltimore Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens entered the season tied for the best odds to win the Super Bowl. They finished with an 8-9 record.

What happened to one of the three teams favored to take home the Lombardi Trophy? The Ravens’ season unraveled quickly. Through the first six weeks, they managed only one win, leaving the team with a 1-5 record.

Lamar Jackson dealt with injuries all season, and he was rarely 100%, but this roster is composed of much more talent than just its former MVP quarterback. This isn’t the same situation as the Bengals investing all their money into three players. Baltimore had a well-built roster with plenty of talent.

And they did eventually figure things out. After starting 1-6, the Ravens would go on a five-game winning streak and break even with a 6-6 record. With a fresh start, Baltimore remained in playoff contention…until they didn’t. The Ravens lost three of their final five games and were eliminated from the playoffs.

They have an older roster, but plenty of players who still compete at a high level, such as Derrick Henry and Roquan Smith. But despite talent, the Ravens ultimately blamed the coaching staff for their failures, moving on from John Harbaugh after 18 seasons.