The Cincinnati Bengals feel like they’re in familiar territory compared to last year before the Super Bowl run.
Joe Burrow and Co. hit the bye at 5-4 last year on a two-game skid, then saved the season with two straight wins to make it 7-4.
Now? They’re 3-3 with three games left until the bye and they face Atlanta, Cleveland and Carolina teams sporting records that top out at .500, with Carolina at 1-5.
Burrow says that ultimately, this upcoming stretch of winnable games is what will decide the season.
“Those three games stretch, I think, will determine how our season goes,” Burrow said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “We haven’t talked about it. We’ve been focused on Atlanta and getting this one, and then we’ll move on to the next one after that.”
He’s probably not far off either because the stretch of games after the bye to end the season is much, much more difficult:
- Pittsburgh
- Tennessee
- Kansas City
- Cleveland
- Tampa Bay
- New England
- Buffalo
- Baltimore
In a nutshell, this is also why the Bengals received so much criticism for dropping winnable games against teams led by iffy quarterbacks early this year during losses to Pittsburgh and Dallas.
Burrow isn’t throwing out normal coach-speak here given how things have unfolded so far. But if nothing else, last year is a good example of just how quickly they can correct things and stay in contention the whole way.
