The Cincinnati Bengals boast thin playoff chances on the line Sunday when the Cleveland Browns visit Paycor Stadium for a Week 16 battle.
From a postseason perspective, things are simple — the easiest path to the playoffs for the Bengals is to win the rest of their games while Denver loses out. They also need the Colts and Dolphins to lose one of their final three games.
A long shot and yet, bad defense or not, the Bengals have won two in a row.
That second Battle of Ohio this season sees the two teams in dramatically different places than when they met back in Week 7.
There, the Bengals escaped 21-14 on the road while Joe Burrow threw for just 181 yards and two scores. The Bengals defense mainly survived because Deshaun Watson got hurt, then Dorian Thompson-Robinson went in and threw two interceptions before the Browns finally did the smart thing and switched to Jameis Winston, who promptly threw a touchdown pass.
All these weeks later, the Browns have benched Winston for Thompson-Robinson, a 51.4 percent career passer with one touchdown and seven interceptions over 12 pro games.
Granted, for a leaky Bengals defense, perhaps that doesn’t mean all that much, especially when the franchise has a reputation for struggling against backup passers.
But the offense is always a beacon of hope. Burrow is flirting with MVP contention while leading the league in completions (361), attempts (527), yards passing (3,977) and touchdowns (36). Top target Ja’Marr Chase is a triple crown threat, Tee Higgins is healthy and Chase Brown out of the backfield is explosive.
The Browns had six turnovers just one week ago and while the players might want to play the spoiler role, the quarterback matchup here will just be too much to overcome.
Prediction: Bengals 30, Browns 28
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