Sports Illustrated predicts the Bengals will be one of six teams that didn’t make the playoffs in 2023 that return there in 2024.
Anytime someone tells you there is no parity in the NFL or that it’s rigged- I have never bought into that. Respond with this: At least four new teams have made the NFL Playoffs in each of the last 34 seasons.
Even with the Chiefs going for a three-peat and the Patriots’ dynasty from 2001-2019, there has been, is, and always will be great parity in the NFL.
Sports Illustrated’s Connor Orr, who also co-hosts The MMQB NFL Podcast, recently predicted six teams that didn’t make the playoffs in 2023 to make it there in 2024 while replacing a playoff team from a year ago in the process.
The Bengals are one of those six teams Orr predicts, replacing their in-state rival Browns.
Much of what Orr writes about the Bengals is based on him mentioning how ESPN pundits debated recently that Burrow’s career arc could mirror that of Carson Wentz. First off, I don’t agree with that at all.
Neither does Orr, as he writes “I’d disagree, given that the Bengals’ offense is Burrow. He runs it like Peyton Manning. He may have more control over the particulars of his offense than any of the young quarterbacks currently dominating the landscape. And, Wentz’s problems weren’t really injury related as much as they were an accumulation of bad habits and an increasing number of teams preparing for an offense that featured the kind of RPO game Wentz was good at. Burrow’s injury luck has not been great, but his ceiling as a player is infinitely higher than Wentz’s ever was. The Bengals are a Super Bowl contender every year he steps on the field at peak health.”
The Bengals’ 4-3 record without Joe Burrow in 2023 showed this team’s, as Orr writes, scrappiness and competitiveness. Orr writes those reasons are making them an easy candidate for a rebound season.
When comparing the Bengals roster to the Browns, the Browns have a lot of questions going into the 2024 Season. From the health of Deshaun Watson and Nick Chubb to whether the Browns’ defense can duplicate its 2023 success in 2024, the Browns have just as many, if not more, questions than the Bengals going into this season.
Orr writes this: “If we had to pick between Cleveland’s roster and Cincinnati’s, assuming everyone is healthy, isn’t it hard to look at Burrow at his best, this Bengals defense at its best, the team’s skill-position players at their best and say that we don’t like the Bengals just a little bit more?”
Keep in mind that the last time Joe Burrow came back from a season-ending injury, the Bengals took advantage of a fourth-place schedule and won the AFC North with a 10-7 record while making Super Bowl LVI. Worth noting: The Bengals rested their starters in the Week 18 game at Cleveland and still only lost 21-16.
I have maintained since right after the Bengals’ Week 18 game in 2023, with Burrow coming back to go with a fourth-place schedule, that the Bengals will go at least 11-6 in 2024. In the last three seasons, no AFC team has missed the playoffs with a 10-7 record.
Therefore, 11-6 should easily be enough to get the Bengals into the playoffs!
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