The National Football League is taking a day off from game action today during their marathon holiday week schedule. It began on Wednesday with a pair of games, played last night with the final Thursday night game of the season, and has three games scheduled for Saturday, nine on Sunday and the final Monday Night Football contest on, you guessed it, Monday.
One of the three featured games tomorrow has the Cincinnati Bengals hosting the Denver Broncos. These are two teams that had very different seasons than the preseason projections suggested. The Bengals, with the return of Joe Burrow behind center after he missed most of the 2023 season with injuries, were supposed to contend in the talented AFC North Division race.
They didn’t.
First clue was losing at home on opening day to the New England Patriots. Following a narrow road loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in second week action, 25-26, they got upset at home by a Washington Commanders team we didn’t know was going to be good this season. Turns out Dan Quinn’s first season as head coach of the Commanders with rookie Jayden Daniels running their offense has turned out a lot like last year’s Houston Texans campaign with first-year head coach DeMeco Ryans and rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.
The surprising 2023 Texans earned a Wild Card playoff berth and won their first postseason game. The Commanders are on the verge of earning a playoff berth and what happens after that is yet to be seen.
Now back to the Bengals, who were upset by the Commanders in a Monday Night Football Week Three encounter for a third straight loss to open their 2024 season. During the first nine weeks this season the Bengals only wins were gained against the Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, Cleveland Browns and Las Vegas Raiders. Those four teams enter play this week with a combined 12 and 48 won/loss record.
A month ago, the Bengals were finally offered a reprieve with their bye week which followed losses to the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Charges and sent them into their break with a 4 and 7 season mark. Any seemingly legitimate chance of turning that record around and mounting a bid to snag one of the three American Football Conference Wild Card berths was nearly erased on their first game back after their open date. Four weeks ago, Burrow put up 38 points against the Pittsburgh Steelers but had his porous defense allow 44 in another loss.
That eliminated the Bengals from serious thoughts of a late bid to enter the postseason, and do you know what happened then?
The Bengals won their next three games over the Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns, three teams that have also struggled to gain wins this season. On Sunday, they meet a Broncos team that is on the cusp of a playoff berth, coming into the week with nine wins and a two game lead over three teams still in the hunt for the final Wild Card spot … the Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins and … wait for it, the Bengals.
What?
The Bengals haven’t beaten a team with a winning record this season and they are still mathematically alive to land a postseason slot?
Yep.
What has to happen for Burrow and company to play past the first week of January is a win on Saturday over the Broncos and a victory next week against the Steelers in Pittsburgh. If they do that, and the Broncos both lose in Cincinnati and next week at home against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Bengals are in.
First things first, the Bengals need to beat Denver and then, hope against hope, that a Broncos team will lose to a Kansas City team that has nothing to play for. The Chiefs have already locked down the top seed in the AFC playoffs with their Christmas Day win over the Steelers. The chances of the Chiefs beating the Broncos next week with nothing to play for and Denver needing the game to earn a playoff berth is miniscule … but the Broncos losing at Paycor Stadium on Saturday has real possibilities.
What, you say, the Bengals haven’t won any game this season against a team with a winning record so why would they beat the Broncos on Saturday? Two reasons. First, the Broncos have had trouble beating teams with winning records too. They have only one such victory, a Week Three victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Florida.
Second reason, the Bengals need this to survive, and the Broncos want it to clinch.
Survival rules.
Qoxhi Picks: Cincinnati Bengals (-3) over Denver Broncos