The Cincinnati Bengals were Super Bowl contenders ahead of the 2023 season but a mid-season injury to Joe Burrow — when he never truly looked himself as he tried to come back from a previous ailment — derailed their season.
While the playoffs are out of the postseason heading into Sunday’s AFC North clash with their home-state rival Cleveland Browns, they have something major to play for.
As it stands, the Baltimore Ravens have clinched the No. 1 overall seed, the Browns have locked in an AFC wildcard spot and the Pittsburgh Steelers outlasted Baltimore on Saturday. Now, the Steelers and their fans will be locked into two games, needing the Dolphins to beat the Bills or the Tennessee Titans to upset the Jacksonville Jaguars. Either situation would result in Mike Tomlin’s team — that has faced as much adversity as any team in the NFL this season — the final AFC wildcard spot.
It’s doubtful Zac Taylor is motivating his squad with NFL history, but if the Bengals beat the Browns — who are resting most of their key starters with a playoff spot locked in — a Cincinnati Bengals win over the Cleveland Browns would be the final step needed to accomplish a feat that hasn’t been done in nearly 90 years.
But NFL history junkies will be locked into the battle between the two Ohio NFL teams.
Why?
A Cincinnati Bengals victory would push their record to (9-8) on the season — and if that happens — it would make the AFC North the first division since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 to have every single team in the division finish above .500.
Here’s a current look at the AFC North standings:
1. Ravens: 13-4
2. Browns: 11-5
3. Steelers: 10-7
4. Bengals: 8-8’
The Cincinnati Bengals Can Make History For AFC North That Hasn’t Been Done Since 1935 By Beating Cleveland Browns
Over the past 53 years, we’ve seen several divisions come close to having every team finish over .500, but it’s never happened. Just last season in 2022, the NFC East had a chance to put every team over .500, but the Washington Commanders lost three of their final four games to finish at 8-8-1
Although no division has pulled off this feat since the merger, it has been done before. If the Bengals win, it would make the AFC North the first division in 88 YEARS to put every team over .500. The last time it happened came all the way back in 1935 in the much-vaunted NFL West.
Here’s a look at how that division finished:
1. Lions: 7-3-2
2. Packers: 8-4
3. Bears: 6-4-2
4. Cardinals: 6-4-2
This was so long ago that the Cardinals were playing in Chicago (They played in the Windy City until 1960 when they moved to St. Louis, and after that they eventually moved to Arizona in 1988).
So if the Bengals take care of the Cleveland Browns, a NFL feat that hasn’t been accomplished since 1960 will take place.
The Cincinnati Bengals Are No Stranger To NFL History
With the link of this pending historical feat attached to the Bengals beating the Browns, it’s ironic the Cincinnati franchise was founded in 1968 as members of the AFL, just two years before the merger with the NFL.
While the Bengals have had periods of success in their franchise history — most recently when Joe Burrow and company led them to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1988, when Boomer Esiason was named MVP of the big game despite a 20-16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Despite the Cincinnati Bengals improbable, magical run in 2021 after five-straight losing seasons — Burrow and the young offensive core of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and an underrated defense finished the regular season with a (10-7) after beating the Kansas City Chiefs, 34–31, in a Week 17 thriller to clinch the division
They knocked off the Raiders in the Wildcard round, snuck past the No. 1 Titans on the road and advanced to the AFC Championship game as underdogs to the No. 2 Chiefs — but once again knocked them off as they did to get a playoff spot four weeks earlier to advance to the Super Bowl, where they lost a close back-and-forth game to the Rams 23-20.
Burrow won NFL comeback player of the year in first full season after recovering from his devastating knee injury in Week 11 of his rookie season and Burrow’s college teammate at LSU, Ja’Marr Chase, earned NFL Offensive Player of the Year to cap off an amazing 2021 campaign.
The Bengals are among 12 NFL teams that have never won a Super Bowl. Their three appearances without a victory are just behind the Bills and Vikings, who have each reached the big game four times without a win.
The franchise currently has four Hall of Famers: CB Ken Riley (1969-1983) WR Charlie Joiner (1972-1975), OL Anthony Munoz (1980-1992) and Terrell Owens who spent one year with the Bengals in 2010.
While the Cincinnati Bengals have had years of success and then a long drought, they have the pieces in place to compete for Super Bowls in the next several years as long as Burrow remains healthy. For now, backup Jake Browning and company have the responsibility to take care of the Cleveland Browns and ink their division in the NFL history book.