Sam Hubbard (left) and Joe Burrow are just two BFFs who happen to play pro football better than you. Photo: Twitter.com/@Bengals

Do the Cincinnati Bengals have a legitimate shot at winning a Super Bowl soon? According to one NFL analyst, absolutely.

NFL.com writer Bucky Brooks assessed the league’s teams with the largest window for Super Bowl going into the 2023-2024 season, and the Bengals are in the thick of things at No. 3. Brooks said he based his Feb. 17 assessment on a team’s core foundation of a great quarterback with “a collection of blue-chip players at marquee positions” while noting that rosters will be changing over the coming months.

“These are not your father’s Bungles,” Brooks wrote.

According to Brooks, the Bengals in a “realistic” position to vie for a championship over the next few seasons, largely because of quarterback Joe Burrow. Brooks pointed to and agreed with Burrow’s comment in January that “The [Super Bowl] window’s my whole career.” Brooks also noted the Bengals winning 20 of their final 26 games (including playoff games) and losing the AFC championship to the Kansas City Chiefs by just three points in the fourth quarter this season. He also mentioned the team’s close fourth-quarter loss at Super Bowl LVI against the Los Angeles Rams.

The Bengals went 12-4 during the 2022-2023 regular season.

Related

“If the Bengals can keep most of the core together after providing Burrow with a megadeal extension, this team will indeed compete with the champion Chiefs for AFC supremacy throughout No. 9’s run as the team’s QB1,” Brooks wrote.

Burrow’s contract, which he signed in 2020 out of the draft and expires in 2024, currently is worth more than $36 million per year. The quarterback, who has said that he wants to remain a Bengal for life and contend each year, is expected to sign a contract extension over the summer. Some experts predict that it could be close to $50 million annually for five or six seasons, making him one of the NFL’s highest-paid players at the position. Spotrac puts Burrow’s market value at $44 million.

Brooks ranked just two teams higher than the Bengals for Super Bowl potential – and they’re not a surprise to football fans. The Kansas City Chiefs, the Bengals’ AFC foe and this season’s Super Bowl champ, came in at No. 1.

“With Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes leading the way, Kansas City enters every season as a genuine world-beater,” Brooks wrote. “Long story short: The Chiefs championship window is so wide open they might want to insert a screen for the summer.”

The Philadelphia Eagles came in at No. 2 on Brooks’ list after losing the Super Bowl to the Chiefs this season.

Related

“Thanks to Howie Roseman’s inspired work in the front office, Philadelphia has a treasure trove of draft picks (including two in this year’s first round) to upgrade a roster that is already universally regarded as one of the league’s very best,” Brooks wrote.

The Bengals have not yet announced the 2023-2024 schedule, but it will include battles with the Chiefs, Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts and others.

Coming soon: CityBeat Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting Cincinnati stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Related Stories

This article appears in Feb 8-21, 2023.