It seems so long since the Cincinnati Bengals played in the Super Bowl – or even resembled the team that played in the Super Bowl – that loss to the Los Angeles Rams almost feels like it didn't happen.
Did the injuries that have plagued Joe Burrow his entire career really take a brief pause to allow him a toe-to-toe title matchup with Matthew Stafford? Were the Bengals really Patrick Mahomes' kryptonite? Or did we just imagine that blip on the radar of an otherwise disappointing stretch of seasons?
2026 has been our best reminder yet that those things did, in fact, happen, and how glorious this team can be when Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are clicking. When the Bengals are on point, they’re the best show in the NFL.
It'd be dishonest
to say the Bengals haven’t shown glimpses of a great offense since those back-to-back AFC championship appearances in 2022-23. Burrow finished fourth in MVP voting only two years ago. But it’s been a long time since Cincinnati sustained a combination of good health, high performance and winning that made them feel like an actual threat. Which is why they haven’t made the playoffs in four years.
Their fortunes are finally turning this season, though. With Sunday’s lights-out win in Madrid, the Bengals are 6-2 and riding a four-game winning streak. They look like a team finally ready to provide fresh playoff memories – maybe even good ones.
Burrow, who threw for three touchdowns in the win over Atlanta, leads the NFL in passing yards per game, touchdowns and completion percentage. Higgins is fifth in the NFL in receiving yards and also ranks top five in touchdowns along with Chase and tight end Mike Gesicki.
More important than those things: for the first time since Cincinnati last made the playoffs, the team’s defense isn’t bleeding points. Which means the offense’s production isn’t for naught.
There’s just one thing left for the Bengals to prove they’re actually back. They have to do it against good teams; Cincinnati is 0-2 against teams that currently have winning records (Jaguars, Steelers). It’s been fun watching them average 30 against bums, but before we can fully buy into them as more than just the entertaining tigers at a Ringling circus, they have to do it against teams that bite back. That’s when we’ll know these cats are for real.
NC State Philip Rivers hire follows a bad blueprint
NC State football is hiring Wolfpack legend and former Los Angeles Chargers star Philip Rivers as the program's next head coach. The only problem is Rivers has zero experience coaching football at the college level.
FTW's Christian D'Andrea sees similarities between this move and UAB's Trent Dilfer hire that ended in disaster for obvious reasons:
"He was unequipped to handle the rigors of recruiting and transfers, especially in a landscape of paying players and Group of 6 teams emerging as farm squads for Power 4 departures. Fans and boosters, the fundraising base who could help give him the talent to prove his playbook was sustainable, universally disliked him. He tried to describe his tenure as a rebuild -- weird choice for a team that had been a consistent bowl presence before his hiring! -- and wound up overseeing a teardown."
Maybe Rivers is more equipped than Dilfer was to navigate this era of college football. But it won't be from experience, because he's never had to do it before. That makes this a risky hire for the Wolfpack.
Quick hits: Shedeur Sanders back in action ... Butker booed ... and more
- Shedeur Sanders' response to getting another start for the Browns was a nice glimpse into his mindset. Although his pre-game smiling might have given the Saints a different impression.
- Harrison Butker responded to Chiefs fans booing him after another missed field goal... and JJ Watt questioned KC's logic in signing Justin Tucker.
- The Colts might keep Jonathan Taylor after rejecting the one top offer they received.
- Jessie Bates trade grades as one of the NFL's best safeties moves from Atlanta to Jacksonville.
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: The Bengals are the best show in the NFL again
