3 bold predictions for Bengals in regular season opener against Patriots
It's time. The Bengals are set to play meaningful football for the first time in eight months. Are you excited? Nervous? Nervously excited? After missing the playoffs for the first time since Ja'Marr Chase adorned the stripes, Cincinnati is looking to avenge themselves and get back to the dance this year, keep Burrow healthy, get back to the big game, and finally bring a Lombardi Trophy to Ohio.
However, we're many months out from the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl. If there's one things the Bengals and their fans have learned, it's to not look too far ahead, especially with their nasty habit of getting off to slow starts and falling behind in divisional and conference standings. The key is to ocus on the next opponent and take it one game at a time.
The Bengals open their 2024 campaign against the New England Patriots; a team that is in a rebuilding phase. They have their quarterback of the future, presumably, in Drake Maye, but they still need to work on the team around him. While they are a very far cry from their glory days as an unstoppable dynasty (except against NFC East teams, for some reason), they can still be a dangerous team to open up against, especially for the Bengals, who have had trouble getting off on the right foot. Cincinnati started each of the past two seasons 0-2.
The Bengals are favorites to win the game, but you never know how things will turn out. Here's a look at three bold predictions for the opener.
Defensive slugfest (less than 40 combined points)
While Joe Burrow and the weapons around him have (rightfully) gotten a lot of praise for turning the franchise around into perennial contenders, Lou Anarumo and the defensive personnel have been just as big of contributors to Cincy's recent success as the offense.
On days when the offense just isn't clicking, the defense tends to step up and make the big plays necessary to deliver the win. Just look at the Rams and Seahawks games last year, or a lot of their recent playoff wins. While the offense did their part in some of them, the biggest plays came from the other side of the ball.
This game will be no different, as the offense seems to take a few weeks to fully mesh before they start firing on all cylinders, and sometimes even come out looking sluggish and sloppy (like in 2022 and 2023). Not to mention, even though they did ship Matthew Judon off to Atlanta, the Patriots don't have a terrible defense as they still have some key contributors on that side of the ball. Most notably in the secondary.
As a result, the game could prove to be more stressful than many Bengals fans are expecting, and it could ultimately end up being a defensive battle with a combined final score below 40.