Jordan Battle, Geno Stone break silence on struggling Bengals defense
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Cincinnati Bengals safeties Jordan Battle and Geno Stone were front and center on the back-breaking play that surrendered a touchdown of 50-plus yards and the game outright against the Chicago Bears in Week 9.
Battle and Stone were then front and center with the media early in the week before the bye, too.
Speaking with reporters in the locker room, Battle was adamant that a misalignment was the sole cause of the issue on the play in question.
Footage from WLWT's Charlie Clifford:
Jordan Battle says Al Golden's call was good, but the Bengals had "misalignment" issues on the Bears 58-yard game-winning touchdown.
"Make a tackle, get him on the ground, force him to kick a field goal. The kicker wasn't kicking good so he probably would have missed it." pic.twitter.com/f6mgMkYOIL— Charlie Clifford (@char_cliff) November 3, 2025
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Stone took things a step further, deflecting blame away from defensive coordinator Al Golden and directing it at the players themselves.
CLNS Media's Mike Petraglia shared the footage:
“I love every guy we have here. But everyone has got to want it.” Geno Stone on his defensive teammates. Stone had a heart-to-heart with DC Al Golden Monday. pic.twitter.com/Auxvaj5Vtq— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) November 3, 2025
For what it’s worth, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor told reporters the same day that there wouldn’t be any changes to his coaching staff.
From the sounds of it, everyone on the Bengals understands what’s going wrong for the historically bad defense and intends to make the fixes happen over the bye week.
RELATED: Bengals weapon rips defense after pathetic showing vs. Bears
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Jordan Battle, Geno Stone break silence on struggling Bengals defense
