Cincinnati Bengals Super Bowl Odds

The Marvin Lewis era is finally over. After 16 years at the helm of the Cincinnati Bengals, Lewis and the franchise parted ways this off-season. He had coached the Bengals for twice as many games as the next longest-tenured coach, and his 131 wins are 70 more than the next most successful coach. However, he had been unable to have any success in the playoffs, failing to win a game in any of Cincinnati’s seven playoff appearances under his watch.

Zac Taylor is the new man in charge, and he has his work cut out for him. The Cincinnati Bengals’ Super Bowl betting odds are tied for the longest on the board (along with Miami and Washington), and most prognosticators see the Bengals finishing in dead last in the AFC North.

Odds to Win Super Bowl LIV
Cincinnati Bengals +15000

Cincinnati does have the benefit of a last-place schedule, but the Bengals play in one of the tougher divisions in the NFL. Baltimore, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh are all projected to finish .500 or better if you go by their win total projections. That will make breaking a three-year playoff drought difficult.

Offensive Outlook

For the Bengals to make it to the playoffs and contend for the Super Bowl, Taylor will have to channel mentor Sean McVay. That McVay magic was the reason why Cincinnati hired Taylor in the first place, as he had been a position coach for all but five games of his coaching career prior to being named Cincinnati’s head coach.

Taylor must find a way to get more out of Andy Dalton. Dalton has been average at best over the last three years, and he will need to have the best season of his career if the Bengals are going to finally win a playoff game.

The good news is that he does have some nice weapons. John Ross III has incredible top end speed and is one of the best deep ball threats in the league, and Tyler Boyd proved that he can be a reliable possession receiver. However, AJ Green is no longer a reliable No. 1 wide receiver. Green has been injured for at least six games in two of the last three seasons, and he will miss at least a few weeks at the start of this year due to ligament damage in his ankle.

Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard are both explosive receiving threats out of the backfield, and Mixon averaged 4.9 YPC last year. The offensive line stands to be a mess though. First round draft pick Jonah Williams was supposed to fill a big hole at left tackle, but he tore his labrum in late June and will likely miss the entire season. Pro Football Focus rated the offensive line No. 27 coming into this season with no player grading out well.

Defensive Outlook

The defense figures to be a mess once more. Cincinnati finished dead last in the league in total defense in 2018, and the Bengals also were one of the five worst defenses in the NFL per Football Outsiders.

The front office didn’t really make any moves to make the defense significantly better this offseason, hoping that time and experience would make a difference. We’ll see whether or not that pays off under new defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.

Like Taylor, Anarumo had precious little experience as a coordinator before being promoted. Anarumo was the interim defensive coordinator for the Dolphins for the final five games of the 2015 season, and he has been a position coach for the rest of his long career.

Geno Atkins is the star of the Bengals defense. Atkins has done yeoman’s work clogging the middle for Cincinnati this decade, and he has continually been graded as an elite interior defensive lineman by PFF. The rest of the defense needs to take big strides forward.

Carl Lawson and William Jackson III are talented players, but they have yet to produce, and the linebacking corps stands to be one of the weakest units in the league coming into this season. It’s going to take a holistic effort for this defense to not be ranked in the bottom half of the league at the end of the year.

Season Projection

The Bengals need to catch lightning in a bottle twice to win the Super Bowl, but isn’t that what you’d expect from a massive longshot?

This offense could be a lot better than what we saw last year. Cincinnati has the weapons, so if Taylor has the magic touch, much better numbers on this side of the ball are at least plausible.

It’s hard to see the defense improving too much though. There just isn’t a lot of talent, and Anarumo is as unproven a defensive coordinator as you’ll find in the league.

Cincinnati is a high-risk, high-reward team. If everything goes right, the Bengals could sneak into the playoffs, but there’s a lot that could go wrong. Don’t be surprised if this is the worst team in the league.

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