2023 CINCINNATI BENGALS WIN PREDICTION

BY ADAM GREENE

I’ve written this sentence in plenty of ways over the last couple of seasons at it remains the same. While all of NFL punditry was waiting for the Buffalo Bills to catch the Kansas City Chiefs, the Cincinnati Bengals were the team actually doing it. Yes, the Bengals are the Bills we’ve all been waiting for.

CINCINNATI BENGALS

2022-23 Record: 12-4

Playoffs: Lost in the AFC Championship to the Kansas City Chiefs

Presumed Starters

QB: Joe Burrow

RB: Joe Mixon

WR: Ja’Marr Chase

WR: Tee Higgins

WR: Tyler Boyd

TE: Irv Smith, Jr.

LT: Orlando Brown, Jr.

LG: Cordell Volson

C: Ted Karras

RG: Alex Cappa

RT: Jonah Williams

LDE: Sam Hubbard

LDT: DJ Reader

RDT: BJ Hill

RDE: Trey Hendrickson

WLB: Logan Wilson

MLB: Germaine Pratt

SLB: Akeem Davis-Gaither

LCB: Chidobe Awuzie

RCB: Cam Taylor-Britt

SS: Nick Scott

FS: Dax Hill

K: Evan McPherson

P: Drue Chrisman

PR: Trent Taylor

KR: Chris Evans

2023 NFL Draft: Round 1: Myles Murphy, Edge, Clemson, Round 2: DJ Turner II, CB, Michigan, Round 3: Jordan Battle, Safety, Alabama, Round 4: Charlie Jones, WR, Purdue, Round 5: Chase Brown, RB, Illinois, Round 6: Andrei Iosivas, WR Princtton, Round 6: Brad Robbins, Punter, Michigan, Round 7: DJ Ivey, DB, Miami

Players Gained: Orlando Brown, Jr. – LT (FA), Germaine Pratt – LB (FA), Nick Scott – Safety (FA), Irv Smith, Jr. – TE (FA), Trevor Siemian – QB (FA), Max Scharping – OG (FA), Drew Sample – TE (FA), Trent Taylor – WR (FA), Trayveon Williams – RB (FA), Michael Thompson – Safety (FA), Sidney Jones – CB (FA), Cody Ford – OG (FA)

Players Lost: Jesse Bates III – Safety, Vonn Bell – Safety, Hayden Hurst – TE, Samaje Perine – RB, Eli Apple – CB, Tre Flowers – CB, Brandon Allen – QB, Chris Lammons – CB

Cincinnati Bengals 2023 Odds

2023 Super Bowl Odds: +1100

2023 AFC Championship Odds: +525

2023 AFC North Odds: +160

Team Wins: Over 11 (-115), Under 11 (-115)

For the Bengals, expectations are rightly high after consecutive AFC Championship games and a Super Bowl appearance two seasons ago. Like the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs, they have the capability of winning every single game on their schedule. If they want to make a serious run at what would be their fourth Super Bowl appearance and first title, it needs to start in the regular season. They have to win more games.

Cincinnati has faced off against the Chiefs in consecutive seasons in the AFC Championship and both games have been at Arrowhead. In fact, Patrick Mahomes has never started an AFC playoff game outside the friendly confines of his home stadium. It’s time for the Bengals to change that, but their schedule isn’t helpful.

Their first three games are very tough, at the Cleveland Browns, then they host the Baltimore Ravens and their Super Bowl LVI opponents, the Los Angeles Rams. It gets significantly easier after that, with the Tennessee Titans, Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks showing up before their bye in Week 7. A 4-2 start would be fantastic. But they can’t afford to lose more than two games the rest of the way and will have to do it facing a gauntlet of the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills, Ravens again, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings, Steelers again and maybe the game for all the AFC homefield marbles, the Chiefs in the season’s penultimate game. I’d love to see this team get the 13 wins all but guaranteeing homefield advantage. Instead, I think they’ll have to win some tiebreakers and fall one game short.

2023-23 Win Prediction: 12-5

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

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