Cincinnati Bengals, Super Bowl favorites?
Maybe not, as the Bengals are one of the harder-to-predict teams in the NFL going into the regular season. They’re also one of the more polarizing given the rivalries they’ve had in recent years with the likes of the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Bengals do, though, pop up in a recent mention of possible Super Bowl outcomes.
At the NFL’s website, eight analysts picked the Los Angeles Rams to win the Super Bowl, with one of those votes actually picking the Rams to beat the Bengals in the rematch.
Three voters picked the Buffalo Bills to win it all, while two picked the Bengals to win the Super Bowl.
One was Brooke Cersosimo, who projected the Bengals to beat the San Francisco 49ers: “Joe Burrow and the Bengals return
to the scene of Super Bowl LVI and prevail this time around, with their own defensive tackle, Dexter Lawrence, making the game-sealing stop.”
The other was David Ely, who projected the Bengals to win the rematch with the Rams: “In a twist from five years ago, Joe Burrow evades Aaron Donald (and Myles Garrett) in the fourth quarter at SoFi Stadium for a game-deciding TD and Cincy’s first Super Bowl title.”
Some of these are fun narrative twists. Dexter Lawrence making the game-winning play, not Aaron Donald, would be the best possible affirmation that the Bengals’ all-in offseason was the right move (never mind how they should operate moving forward).
But the Bengals getting a little Super Bowl revenge on either the 49ers or Rams would be a nice exclamation point for older fans, no doubt.
If nothing else, Bengals fans can’t complain about the team sticking in the conversation. That, on its own, is a nice sign that the offseason was a strong one that put them in a position to not waste another year of Joe Burrow’s prime.
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals show up in Super Bowl projections with Rams, 49ers
