The Cincinnati Bengals picked up one of the most impressive victories of Week 13 on Monday Night Football. Heading on the road with backup quarterback Jake Browning as their starter, the Bengals defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 34-31 in overtime.
It was a huge victory for the Bengals, as a loss would have crushed their playoff hopes. Instead, they are now 6-6 on the season, and right back in the thick of the AFC playoff race. The job is nowhere near done, but to complete it you need to finish the first step and they did that upsetting the Jaguars.
Up next for the Bengals is another massive game. They will be facing off against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 14, who are 7-5 and currently holding one of the Wild Card spots in the AFC. Winning this game would go a long way to solidifying their playoff positioning for the victor.
Who is going to come out on top? Indianapolis enters the game as the favorites, currently listed at -2.5 points. In the opinion of Bill Bender of Sporting News, the Bengals are going to be victorious. He believes they will defeat the Colts 21-20, picking up their second straight upset victory.
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“The Colts have pushed into the AFC playoff with four straight road victories – including three road wins – with Gardner Minshew at the controls. Cincinnati is adjusting to life without Joe Burrows, but their three home losses are by a combined total of 12 points. This feels like a trap game for the Colts,” wrote Bender.
It would be hard to imagine the Colts not bringing their A game against a team they are directly competing with for a playoff spot in the conference. They are also only one game behind the Jaguars for first place in the AFC South, an attainable deficit to overcome after Trevor Lawrence suffered an ankle injury against the Bengals on Monday Night Football.
The confidence of the Bengals should be riding high as Browning has proven capable of more than keeping the team afloat in the absence of Joe Burrow. If he can produce near the level of which he did on Monday, Cincinnati is going to be a tough team to beat.
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