Predicting Bengals' final 6 games of 2023 season: How bad can it get?
The Bengals will play the Jaguars, Colts, Vikings, Steelers, Chiefs, and Browns to close out the regular season.
The Cincinnati Bengals are 5-6 after 12 weeks of action. They started the season 1-3, then rattled off four straight wins to sit at 5-3, but then disaster struck. They lost to the Texans, then lost Joe Burrow for the season and went on to lose two more games.
Now, at 5-6, the playoffs seem unrealistic, especially with how tough the AFC North is and the fact that Cincinnati has just one win in the conference. Things don't look great for the Bengals moving forward considering every team remaining on their schedule has a winning record.
With six games to play, how bad can things get for the Bengals? Will they be vying for a top-10 draft pick or can they win more games than expected?
Week 13 @ Jaguars
This game lost its luster when Burrow went down but to be fair, so did a few of their games on the remaining schedule. We won't get Joe Burrow vs. Trevor Lawrence, which is a bummer. The Jaguars are 8-3 on the year, leading the AFC South, and still in the running for the number one seed.
With no Burrow and the Bengals' defense looking like a shell of itself, this probably won't be a close game, sadly. The Jaguars are 8-3 for a reason and they're going to score points in this AFC match-up. I probably would have picked the Bengals to win on the road had Burrow been healthy but that's not the case here, unfortunately.
Prediction: Bengals lose 27-17
Week 14 vs. Colts
If there's a time for the Bengals offense to come to life during this six-game stretch, this game against Indianapolis would be it. Sure, the Colts are eighth in the league in points scored per game but their defense has allowed the sixth-most points per game this season.
Simply put, the Colts are able to score points but their defense isn't great at slowing opponents down. This could be when we see Jake Browning and the Bengals offense make big plays and try to eek out a gutsy win. Or, if the Bengals offense struggles in this game, maybe it's when we see a change made at quarterback. Not that it matters much at this point.