The Cincinnati Bengals are officially in trouble.
Coming into the season, it was widely expected that the Cincinnati Bengals would be competing for a Super Bowl. Last year, they lost in the AFC Championship game in Kansas City. It was a classic, memorable, 23-20 thriller. Despite the brutal loss, fans and pundits alike had expected them to return to form this year and once again be one of the bigger threats to emerge from the AFC. Through 2 weeks, that hasn’t been the case. The Bengals are 0-2 and 0-2 in the division. They have losses to the Browns and a home loss to the Ravens. What’s more, the calf injury Joe Burrow suffered during training camp reemerged yesterday. What was once thought of as a fairly winnable game against the Rams is suddenly up in the air.
The Bengals have the talent and pedigree to think they’ll turn it around, but history is not on their side. Since the playoffs expanded to 7 teams in each conference in 2020, only 1 team to start 0-2 has gone on to make the playoffs. That, of course, was the 2022 Cincinnati Bengals. We know they can handle adversity better than most teams, but trying to overcome a banged up Joe Burrow is a lot to ask for. In addition to that, 3 of their next 5 games are on the road.
This is why the NFL is king. Every year, teams that aren’t expected to be good are competing and putting wins on the board. Then, you have teams that are expected to compete for a championship, and they fall flat. Hope truly does spring eternal in the NFL.
The Bengals have the talent both on the field and on the sidelines to get right back into the race. Nobody is going to be eager to play them. However, it is apparent that they are not quite at the juggernaut level that they’ve been at over the last couple of years. Only time will tell if they can turn it around. It’s getting late early.