The 2024 season has not gotten off to the kind of start that the Cincinnati Bengals were hoping for. After a Joe Burrow injury derailed the 2023 season, fans were hopeful that the Bengals could start hot out of the gates and re-establish the team as a Super Bowl contender.
Instead, the Bengals dropped a disappointing game to the New England Patriots before coming up just short against the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, the Bengals head into a Week 3 game that is a must-win against a very beatable Washington Commanders team.
Cincy will be watching from the sidelines on Sunday as the team is playing on Monday Night Football. While the Bengals will not be in action during Sunday's Week 3 slate, the writing is on the wall for the team to be the big winners.
Why the Bengals will be the big winners on Sunday without playing:
It all has to do with the rest of the AFC North. While the Bengals are not playing, all of the team's divisional foes have games that will be challenging (even if some of them do not seem very challenging on paper).
The 2-0 Pittsburgh Steelers may finally come back down to Earth against an LA Chargers team that is led by Jim Harbaugh. Justin Herbert is dealing with a lingering ankle issue but overall, the Chargers have more firepower on both sides of the ball to get the win.
Nothing is guaranteed, and it is not a wise decision to count out Mike Tomlin at home, but even a banged-up Herbert is miles better than a banged-up Kirk Cousins and a rookie Bo Nix. The Steelers could very well fall to 2-1.
The 0-2 Baltimore Ravens have a real chance of falling to 0-3 on the season with a road game against the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas didn't look great against the New Orleans Saints last week but America's Team still presents a much tougher challenge to move to 1-2 than the Commanders.
The Cleveland Browns have the easiest game of the week against the New York Giants but the G-Men should not be taken for granted. After all, there is real pressure on the Giants to avoid an 0-3 start after what was a disastrous offseason for the team.
If there was ever a time for the Giants to throw the kitchen sink at an opponent it is now. And while the Browns won last week, you can never count Cleveland's opponents out when Deshaun Watson is the quarterback.
Is would be very surprising if the other three AFC North teams could compile a winning record on Sunday and there is a real chance of the three teams going winless. Meanwhile, the stars are aligned for the Bengals to take care of business on Monday to re-establish the team's place in the long-term AFC playoff picture.