With a healthy Joe Burrow, the Cincinnati Bengals were expected to be strong contenders in the AFC North.
However, they’ve been underperforming, just managing to get to a 4-5 record at the halfway point. All four of their wins have been against teams with losing records, which currently have a combined total of 8-28.
Cincinnati has already played two divisional games, losing to the Ravens by three points and defeating the Cleveland Browns by a touchdown. The Bengals still have to face the Ravens (6-3) again on Thursday, the Browns (2-7) right before Christmas, and the division-leading Steelers (6-2) twice.
This means that winning the AFC North or even making the playoffs as a wild card will be much harder than simply beating some of the weaker teams. Out of their remaining eight games, five are against teams with winning records.
Burrow is confident that the Bengals can still win enough games to make the playoffs. He believes it will take 10 wins to get in, so Cincinnati needs to win six of their last eight games.
“I’m going to be hard on myself,” he said. “I’m going to be hard on us to execute the way that I feel like we need to.”
Cincinnati ended the first half of the season on a positive note. Both the offense and defense played well in Sunday’s 41-24 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
Burrow tied a career high with five touchdown passes, defensive end Trey Hendrickson recorded four sacks, tight end Mike Gesicki caught two touchdown passes, and the running game improved with Chase Brown rushing for a career-high 120 yards.
Wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase has been as consistent as ever. He leads the NFL with seven touchdown catches, ranks second with 717 receiving yards, and is tied for third with 55 catches.
