Don’t Let Cincinnati’s Strength Of Schedule Fool You

By Alex Schubert on December 13, 2023

---

After a commanding victory over the Indianapolis Colts, the Bengals now find themselves fully back in the playoff race in a wide open AFC. Cincinnati is one of an astounding six teams in the AFC who will exit Week 14 with a 7-6 record.

The Bengals, in addition to the five other teams (Steelers, Colts, Texans, Broncos, and Bills) are all competing for the final two Wild Card positions. The fifth seed is currently held by the Cleveland Browns, who are a game ahead of the aforementioned pack at 8-5.

Of those teams, the Bengals have the toughest remaining schedule on paper. However, while the Bengals have the second-toughest remaining schedule in the NFL, as the four teams they face all have winnings records, there’s a path to victory for all four games.

Week 15 features a home game against the Minnesota Vikings, who find themselves at 7-6 and as the 6th seed in the NFC. However, they are going through major offensive struggles.

I’m not even sure Josh Dobbs should be on the roster next week

— Drew Magary (@drewmagary) December 10, 2023

For perspective, Cincinnati scored more points on Sunday (34) than the Vikings have scored in their last three games (33).

In a game that might as well have been the Minnesota Wild vs. the Vegas Golden Knights, the Vikings came away with a whopping 3-0 victory against the Raiders in Week 14. Josh Dobbs, who was briefly the Renaissance Man in Minneapolis, found himself benched for Nick Mullens. It appears that the latter will be the starting QB in Week 15.

The Vikings also lost Justin Jefferson to a rib injury during the game, though it appears that he avoided a significant injury and will be available for their matchup against Cincinnati.

The Vikings’ QB circle is good news for a Bengals’ defense who has struggled against the pass all year.

The week after, the Bengals get a rematch against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who defeated Cincinnati by a 16-10 final score in Week 12. However, since that win for Pittsburgh, they’ve found themselves mired in a historic two game losing streak.

Steelers fans seeing their team lose to two 2-10 teams in 4 days pic.twitter.com/Pm6cr2yxE6

— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) December 8, 2023

The Steelers became the first team in NFL history with a winning record to lose two straight games to teams that were at least eight games under .500.

Week 17 will unquestionably be the toughest matchup of the rest of the season, as they will be traveling to Kansas City to take on the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, who are coming off a loss to the Buffalo Bills. It very much could have been a win, but on the potential game winning play, Kadarius Toney lined up so far offsides, he might as well have been on the Missouri-Kansas border.

The overhead camera angle of the Kadarius Toney offsides play, via @jjones9. Doesn’t get clearer than this… https://t.co/tP4TAI8ojd pic.twitter.com/hZeXcxzDb5

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 11, 2023

It was their third loss in their last four games.

Even though Patrick Mahomes is still one of the best QBs in the league, he has not been his usual self this year. He’s on pace to top his career high in interceptions and career low in passer rating, and he’s on pace to throw his fewest touchdowns since 2019. Thus far, he’s only thrown for at least 3 touchdowns in a game twice.

The regular season finale will see the Bengals square off against the Cleveland Browns, who the Bengals lost to in ugly fashion to begin the year.

Bengals benched Joe Burrow in the 4Q after going down 24-3 vs. Browns

14/31
82 YDS

He just became the NFL’s highest-paid player on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/P5zTAuxwvg

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 10, 2023

However, if these last two weeks have shown us anything, it’s that the Bengals offense is incredibly far removed from the offense that showed up in that game. Not to mention, the rematch will be on the Bengals’ home turf, and Cleveland’s squad is much more banged up this time around, as players such as Deshaun Watson, Nick Chubb, and Jack Conklin are all out for the year.

Cleveland will likely be starting the ageless wonder Joe Flacco under center, and to his credit, he’s played well. To be fair, the games were against the Rams, who have an extremely average pass defense, and against Jacksonville, who has one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL this year. Whether he keeps up the good momentum against tougher opponents like the Bears, who have picked off the second most passes in the NFL this year, and the Jets, whose pass defense is among the most elite in the league, remains to be seen.

While the rest of Cincinnati’s schedule is tough on paper, the last two victories have demonstrated that they can still compete with anybody. The remaining matchups will all present challenges of their own, but they also show that they are obstacles that the Bengals have demonstrated that they can overcome.

---