Cincinnati Bengals fans can be forgiven for feeling a little deja vu heading into “Monday Night Football” against the Washington Commanders.
Joe Burrow’s Bengals, after all, have started another season slow and face a must-win game in the first month. The culprit is once again a slow start, which began with a brutal loss to a New England team in the opener that hasn’t won a game since.
The Bengals evened out in Week 2, with Burrow throwing two scores in a one-point loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that ended in controversy over a call that saw Ja’Marr Chase receive a massive fine letter from the NFL.
But whether that was the Bengals rounding into form, or merely playing up to the Chiefs again — before potentially playing down to the Commanders — remains to be seen.
Those Commanders certainly aren’t an easy out. Jayden Daniels has been the best of the rookie passers so far at a 75.5 completion percentage with two rushing scores. The Washington ground game has averaged 5.4 yards per carry, while the defense has quality pass-rushers and just held a team to 18 points.
When it comes to run defense, it’s a bad matchup at a bad time for the Bengals, who have had the interior of the defensive line decimated by injuries. They could easily trot out two backups and a rookie with a club on his hand in the middle of the line and hope for the best.
Luckily for the Bengals, the rest looks good. That’s especially so through the air, where the Commanders are weak at cornerback. Tee Higgins will finally make his season debut, which means fewer double-teams on Chase, meaning the breakout for No. 1 could happen in primetime.
Ideally, the Bengals continue the upward trend last week and take better care of the football, too. But even if there are a few struggles, the matchup of quarterbacks hints that Burrow should be able to pull this one out of reach.
Prediction: Bengals 28, Commanders 17
