NFL Analyst Makes Bold Prediction For Cincinnati Bengals

Carton thinks the Bengals are going to miss running back Joe Mixon, who departed in free agency, but he loves Cincinnati’s chances next season due much in part to its schedule.

He says that the Bengals will obviously win their season opener against the lowly New England Patriots, and even though they will be playing the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 2, they are the one team not afraid of doing so because they have beaten the Chiefs there before.

Carton is right: Cincinnati does have a fairly forgiving schedule, although the meetings with Kansas City and the Baltimore Ravens within the first five weeks of the season are certainly ominous.

It also doesn’t help that the Bengals play in what is probably the toughest division in football. All four AFC North teams finished with winning records last season, and three of them made the playoffs.

Taking that into consideration, Cincinnati may even consider it a win to go 3-3 in its divisional matchups next season. As long as the Bengals don’t get swept by anyone, they may be sitting pretty.

Of course, they will also need to take care of business against their other opponents.

So long as Cincy is healthy, though, that shouldn’t be too difficult for the club.

The Bengals will play the AFC West division, which, outside of the Chiefs, is not a very impressive group of teams at all. Cincinnati actually should beat all of the Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos. The Bengals will also play the NFC East, which features a couple of tough matchups against the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, but also will allow them games against the New York Giants and Washington Commanders.

Cincinnati had made back-to-back playoff appearances before last season, making it all the way to the Super Bowl during the 2021-22 campaign and then losing in the AFC Championship Game the following year.