The Cincinnati Bengals feel like pretty obvious contenders this year.
Nick Wright, though, doesn’t agree.
When asked on “First Things First" if the Bengals are going to reach for contender status this year, Wright said “absolutely not” before being asked to expand on his thoughts.
“For the record,” Wright said, “I think the Bengals have only had one season where they were a contender, and it’s not the season they made the Super Bowl.”
Wright followed up by saying the 12-win season after the Super Bowl appearance was Cincinnati’s only true contending season. He noted, of course, that it ended in “Burrowhead” and the franchise was “forever altered.”
Bengals fans, of course, are going to point to what feels like some bias from a very public fan of the
Kansas City Chiefs here. And notably, Wright admits the Bengals proved him wrong when they went to the Super Bowl after not being viewed as contenders that year, so the entire discussion is a little silly.
So, Wright might not view the Bengals as contenders right now, but he’s been wrong in the recent past.
While this is a contrarian stance seemingly for the sake of it, the Bengals are widely viewed nationally as a playoff threat otherwise. The Dexter Lawrence trade is one part of it. So is the fact Joe Burrow’s getting back the same five starting offensive linemen for the first time in his career and he looks healthy, never mind the rest of the AFC North starting over with new head coaches.
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Nick Wright throws out another weird Bengals criticism
