It’s Time For The Bengals To Start The Season Like A Contender
Sam Greene / The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
In each of the last two seasons, the Cincinnati Bengals came out of the gates starting slow. After a Super Bowl appearance and sky-high expectations, they started 2022 0-2, and fans smashed the panic button with a comically oversized mallet. 2023 was even worse, as Joe Burrow’s play was limited by a calf injury he suffered in training camp. As a result, the Bengals limped to a 1-3 start.
2024 seems to be trending towards being a different direction.
Many of the Bengals’ worries have subsided. Tee Higgins signed his franchise tag and is back to practicing and getting accustomed to the offense under new coordinator Dan Pitcher. Even with the loss of defensive tackle DJ Reader, the Bengals made up for it by signing Sheldon Rankins and drafting Kris Jenkins and McKinnley Jackson. Perhaps most importantly, Joe Burrow is on track to be fully healthy in time for the regular season and is learning how to balance recovery and preparation.
“I need to try to be out there for training camp, get as many reps as I can with the guys,” Burrow said. “I’m going to be smart about it. If I need a break, I need a break.”
One positive storyline as the Bengals head into this season is their particularly soft schedule. The Bengals have a platinum-level opportunity to get off to the kind of fast start that has eluded them over the past couple of years.
The Bengals are 8.5 point favorites over the Patriots week 1 🤯 pic.twitter.com/cFkrhWUPdd
— PFF Fantasy & Betting (@PFF_Fantasy) May 20, 2024
They open the season at home against the New England Patriots, who have a first-year head coach in Jerod Mayo and will likely be starting a rookie quarterback in Drake Maye. The spread in the Bengals’ Week 1 matchup against New England is currently the largest of any spread in the NFL that week.
The first six weeks are primed with soft matchups that provide an opportunity for the Bengals to hit the ground running. In addition to the Patriots in Week 1, the Bengals will face a Washington Commanders squad in Week 3 who will also have a rookie quarterback in Jayden Daniels. The very next week, they will face the Carolina Panthers, who had the worst overall record in the NFL in 2023. Their rookie quarterback faced a rocky start to his career last season, and they underwent a near-complete roster overhaul. In Week 6, the Bengals get a Sunday Night matchup against the New York Giants, who are inexplicably sticking by Daniel Jones for yet another season.
Weeks 2 and 5, however, are significantly tougher matchups. In Week 2, they will be headed to Kansas City to take on the defending Super Bowl Champion Chiefs. Week 5 will be at home, but against the defending AFC North champion Ravens. While those are two of the toughest possible matchups the Bengals could have, they’ll also be two huge opportunities for the Bengals to prove that they can beat the league’s best.
It goes without saying, but the biggest key to avoiding making the same mistakes they’ve made in the past is preparing as efficiently as possible.
“They did a great job preparing themselves to get ready for these guys and getting the most out of this process we’ve had the last couple weeks,” head coach Zac Taylor said on June 4. “I thought the players bought in completely, got done everything that we need to get done, continue to improve.”
The Bengals have gotten away with slow starts by picking up steam later on in the season. After a 4-4 start in 2022, they went undefeated for the remainder of the season until their crushing defeat to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. Last season, however, saw the Bengals begin 5-6 until Jake Browning caught fire out of nowhere and helped the Bengals to a 9-8 record.
While the Bengals’ 9-8 winning record isn’t objectively terrible when everything is taken into account, it did result in a last-place finish in the division. The AFC North is the toughest division in the NFL, and each division rival is more than capable of getting off to the kind of fast start that a slow-starting version of the Bengals may not be able to catch up to.
On the other hand, the Bengals are one of the NFL’s best teams when fully healthy. They are just as capable of making a fast start and gaining an insurmountable lead in the division as the rest of their rivals. Securing many wins as quickly as possible will go a long way to getting home-field advantage for the playoffs. If Cincinnati can do that, they will put themselves in a much better position to win not only the AFC North, but the AFC as a whole.
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