Cincinnati Bengals: Madden simulation vs. Packers in Week 5

The benefit of playing on Thursday Night Football is that the Cincinnati Bengals then had a long week to relax and prepare for their Week 5 opponent — the Green Bay Packers. Both teams are 3-1 and looking to make a statement this week.

Well, the Bengals would make a bigger statement with a win. They might be 3-1 but they’ve beaten the likes of the Vikings, a bad Steelers team, and a winless Jags squad. My argument to that is — You can only beat the teams on your schedule (just ask the Broncos, who had the easiest three-game slate a team could ask for!) so the Bengals shouldn’t be faulted for that.

With that being said, the first true test of the season comes on Sunday against the Packers.

After getting embarrassed by the Saints in Week 1, Green Bay has gone 3-0 and looked pretty good in the process. They’ll be a tough out this weekend.

Madden Simulation – Cincinnati Bengals 17, Green Bay Packers 28

Bengals Stats

• Joe Burrow – 21-of-35, 206 yards, TD, 2 INT; 4 carries, 18 yards
• Samaje Perine – 14 carries, 45 yards
• Tyler Boyd – 6 rec, 82 yards, TD
• C.J. Uzomah – 5 rec, 76 yards
• Ja’Marr Chase – 2 rec, 42 yards
• Logan Wilson – 11 tackles
• Larry Ogunjobi – Sack
• Trey Hendrickson – Sack; Fumble Return for TD

Packers Stats

• Aaron Rodgers – 27-of-32, 360 yards, 3 TD
• Aaron Jones – 19 carries, 108 yards, TD; 4 rec, 54 yards, TD
• Davante Adams – 8 rec, 127 yards, TD
• Robert Tonyan – 4 rec, 34 yards, TD
• Preston Smith – 9 tackles
• Kingsley Keke – 2 sacks
• Adrian Amos – INT
• Kevin King – INT

Well, this would certainly be disappointing if the game really turned out like this. The Bengals are home underdogs but only by a field goal, per WynnBET, so losing by double-digits would pull the rug right under this group after a confidence-building 3-1 start to the season.

On the Bengals side, I didn’t put Joe Mixon into the sim since he’s considered week-to-week and even if he does play, it’s doubtful he gets the same kind of production he normally does so I went ahead and just excluded him. Perine gets a decent share of carries but the run game isn’t the same without Mixon, as we all know.

Burrow doesn’t build off of his terrific performance from a week ago, throwing two picks. Boyd has another good game, as does Uzomah, but neither is enough to get this team what would be a big win.

Rodgers has his way with the Cincinnati defense, throwing for 360 yards and three touchdowns and no picks. He’s not the only one to put up big numbers, as Jones is a nightmare to cover and this game proves it with him doing major damage both on the ground and through the air.

Again, this would be a disappointing result if the Packers rolled into Paul Brown Stadium and beat the Bengals by 11 points. People would certainly be using the “easy schedule” argument for the Bengals’ hot start and, to be fair, they’d be right.

Let’s hope Cincinnati puts up a better fight than what Madden predicts they will. Luckily, the video game has gone 1-3 so far so the chances of it being wrong are pretty high.