The Cincinnati Bengals will need to break a trend in Week 7 by stealing a road win against the Cleveland Browns.
Should Joe Burrow and the Bengals make that happen, they would move the needle on the season to 3-4. Lose, and 2-5 effectively ends everything.
But the Bengals haven’t done that since 2017 — and Burrow never has.
Normally, the way Burrow’s offense has played lately would be a major reason for hope this time. He had an MVPish stretch for a trio of games and has settled on a 71.6 completion percentage with 1,578 yards and 12 touchdowns against just two interceptions. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have played great and Chase Brown averages 5.5 yards per carry in the backfield.
But the defense is a cause for concern. The unit looked better in a Week 6 win over the New York Giants as players like Sheldon Rankins got healthy. But the process has been slow, with a serious lack of pass rush and fundamentals like proper angles causing issues.
And the offense is now a concern, too. What has been the best line of Burrow’s career to date collapsed against the Giants, a team that sports about as AFC North-like front seven as one can possibly be. Now, the task is asking that same offensive line to rebound against the likes of Myles Garrett.
The saving grace could be the Browns offense. Cleveland is, after all, a 1-5 team for a reason. Deshaun Watson has been a disaster again, this time throwing just five scores and three picks over six games while averaging just 5.1 yards per attempt. The front office just traded Amari Cooper away. Browns star running back Nick Chubb will return, but on an unknown snap count. Still, it could open up the offense some.
But at this point, all Bengals fans can do is hope that the defense has learned from the past six weeks and will continue to gel now that this is the healthiest it has been all season, minus the loss of Dax Hill.
From a broader perspective, this is one of the most lopsided quarterback matchups of the week, if not possible in the NFL right now. The Browns have played a handful of their recent losses close, but expect Burrow to bail out the Bengals late in a close one.
Prediction: Bengals 27, Browns 24