Despite a 5-4 record, the Cincinnati Bengals are right in the thick of the AFC North race and could gain some serious ground despite sitting on a bye.
Case in point, the Bengals already got a big assist from the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night, where the rebuilding three-win team took down the Baltimore Ravens in a stunning 22-10 upset.
That dropped Baltimore to 6-3. And looking at Sunday’s slate, 5-4 Cleveland, which just beat the Bengals 41-16 last week, has to take on the New England Patriots on the road.
Those Patriots are also 5-4 and have won three in a row, so there’s an outside chance Bill Belichick’s squad might be able to throw the Bengals an assist in the 1 p.m. ET kickoff.
As for the 5-3 Pittsburgh Steelers, they get a 1 p.m. ET homestand against the 0-8 Detroit Lions. Sounds like a simple win, especially considering the Lions suffered a 44-6 loss before last week’s bye, but Ben Roethlisberger is out due to COVID-19.
Meaning, if there was a serious chance for the Lions to pick up at least one win this season, it’s probably this Sunday against a team that has hardly scraped by Russell Wilson-less Seattle, Cleveland and Chicago in recent weeks.
Either way, the Bengals have a 2-1 record — the only winning record — in the AFC North right now and already won in Pittsburgh and Baltimore. But it sure wouldn’t hurt for other teams to continue the upset trend started by Miami and help the Bengals out.
