Tonight, we are all Bengals fans. The Miami Dolphins are off to a slow start — as are the Cincinnati Bengals. But that’s totally fine, because someone has to win tonight’s Monday Night Football showcase between the lowly Bengals and the winless Pittsburgh Steelers. For Dolphins fans, there’s a heavy rooting interest that involves those Bengals.
Remember — the Dolphins own Pittsburgh’s 2020 1st-round pick courtesy of the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade. That pick? It currently sits 6th in the overall draft order with the Steelers winless at 0-3. The team immediately in front of them? The Cincinnati Bengals.
If the Dolphins’ season goes to the unofficial plan, Miami may only win 1-2 games this season. Heck, the Dolphins may not win at all. And so a win would go a long way to help push Cincinnati out of competition for that #1 overall pick that the Dolphins seem to covet so much. And it could be argued that the Bengals are very much in the 2020 quarterback market — they have a new head coach this year and Andy Dalton has plateaued as a quarterback. He’s on a veteran contract and on the wrong side of 30.
For the long-view, it makes sense for Miami fans to root for the Bengals tonight for two reasons: to push the Bengals out of head to head competition with the Dolphins in the draft order but also to keep the Steelers’ season off the rails — it’s a double whammy for Miami.
So with that in mind, go Bengals!
