The Cincinnati Bengals are 5-6 after 12 weeks of action. They started the season 1-3, then rattled off four straight wins to sit at 5-3, but then disaster struck. They lost to the Texans, then lost Joe Burrow for the season and went on to lose two more games.
Now, at 5-6, the playoffs seem unrealistic, especially with how tough the AFC North is and the fact that Cincinnati has just one win in the conference. Things don’t look great for the Bengals moving forward considering every team remaining on their schedule has a winning record.
With six games to play, how bad can things get for the Bengals? Will they be vying for a top-10 draft pick or can they win more games than expected?
Week 13 @ Jaguars
This game lost its luster when Burrow went down but to be fair, so did a few of their games on the remaining schedule. We won’t get Joe Burrow vs. Trevor Lawrence, which is a bummer. The Jaguars are 8-3 on the year, leading the AFC South, and still in the running for the number one seed.
With no Burrow and the Bengals’ defense looking like a shell of itself, this probably won’t be a close game, sadly. The Jaguars are 8-3 for a reason and they’re going to score points in this AFC match-up. I probably would have picked the Bengals to win on the road had Burrow been healthy but that’s not the case here, unfortunately.
Prediction: Bengals lose 27-17
Week 14 vs. Colts
If there’s a time for the Bengals offense to come to life during this six-game stretch, this game against Indianapolis would be it. Sure, the Colts are eighth in the league in points scored per game but their defense has allowed the sixth-most points per game this season.
Bengals lose 27-17
Simply put, the Colts are able to score points but their defense isn’t great at slowing opponents down. This could be when we see Jake Browning and the Bengals offense make big plays and try to eek out a gutsy win. Or, if the Bengals offense struggles in this game, maybe it’s when we see a change made at quarterback. Not that it matters much at this point.
Prediction: Bengals lose 28-20
Week 15 vs. Vikings
The Vikings have been one of the most up-and-down teams in the league. They started 0-3, then went on a magical run, lost their starting quarterback, continued the magical run, and now they’ve hit a wall. The Josh Dobbs story was fun while it lasted but he had a really bad game against the Bears and was exposed. It doesn’t hurt that the Bengals have already faced him and handled him back when he was with the Cardinals earlier this season.
Maybe the Vikings come to town and Dobbs plays like he did early on during his Vikings tenure. The Bengals defense is great at forcing turnovers though and Dobbs showed that he can have games where he coughs up the football a lot. The defense hasn’t had a great year but this game hopefully goes on to be one of their best of the season.
Prediction: Bengals win 21-17
Week 16 @ Steelers
Round 1 went to the Steelers despite the hated team from Pittsburgh only putting up 16 points. The Bengals allowed the Steelers to put up their best offensive stats in 59 tries but it still only led to 16 points. That’s good news moving forward for the Bengals because that means they can hang with this Steelers team.
The bad news is that by this point in the season, the games will mean more to the Steelers. They’re in playoff contention right now and the Bengals could very well be out of it when Week 16 rolls around. Division games are always tough even when they shouldn’t be and that’s what I predict will happen when these two teams meet again in less than a month.
The Bengals defense allows a lot of explosive plays but they make their opponents pay in the red zone and that’s what we’ll see in the Steel City in late December.
Prediction: Bengals win 24-21
Week 17 @ Chiefs
It’s unfortunate that the NFL scheduled this game so late in the regular season because now it’s lost nearly all of its shine. Yes, there will be a ton of storylines going into this game but it’s nowhere near the same match-up now that Burrow won’t be there to take the snaps. We won’t have Joe Burrow vs. Patrick Mahomes for the fifth time in a little over two years and that’s such a bummer.
The Bengals probably aren’t going to have much to play for by the time this game rolls around. Even with my prediction of them being 7-8 at this point in time, they’re going to be desperate for a win against a team that wants nothing more than to embarrass them.
The Chiefs, on the other hand, have the number one seed to play for. They’ll be motivated to kick the Bengals while they’re down and I predict they’ll do exactly that.
Prediction: Bengals lose 34-24
Week 18 vs. Browns
This game could have been a potential playoff decider but it likely won’t be now that Burrow is out for the year. The Browns would be in the postseason if it started right this very moment but they’ve had injuries to their quarterbacks. Fortunately, their defense has stepped up and that’s why they’re in the position they’re in.
The Browns embarrassed the Bengals in Week 1 of the regular season and 17 weeks will pass before these two teams will have played again. Cincinnati has always struggled against the Browns and it’s safe to say that Cleveland will have a lot more to play for in this game than the Bengals will.
Prediction: Bengals lose 21-13
If the games play out this way, the Cincinnati Bengals would finish the season at 7-10. That’d likely be good enough to earn them a top-10 pick and land an absolute stud for their 2024 roster. That’s one of the few benefits of the team not playing well this year, as they don’t get top-tier talent in the draft when they finish as one of the best teams in the league.
Still, it’s hard to accept the moral victories when this team was capable of so much more this year. They were supposed to be Super Bowl contenders, not vying for a top-10 pick in the draft.
