Can the Bengals repeat as AFC Champions?

As the Cincinnati Bengals begin their quest to repeat as AFC champs, everyone wants to know: Do they have what it takes to make another Super Bowl run?

Short answer, yes.

Long answer, yes, because they’re arguably a better team right now than they were a year ago, and the rest of the AFC hasn’t exactly done anything to pass them by, at least in terms of Cincinnati’s primary competition in the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.

As explosive as the Bengals were last year, they struggled mightily to protect their franchise QB. Burrow was sacked at a historic rate, so the Bengals made significant changes to the offensive line this offseason, and that’s led to Burrow staying upright and keeping this offense churning out yards. He’s been sacked a mere 28 times since Week 3 after going down 19 times in Cincinnati’s four-game 2022 playoff run alone.

Defensively, it’s mostly the same unit that held opponents to an average of 20.5 points per game last postseason, and no team scored more than 24 on them.

So effectively, the Bengals are the same, if not slightly better than last year. What’s really helping is that the Bengals’ main AFC competition isn’t significantly, if any, better than last year.

The AFC is a brutal league to compete in compared to the NFC, primarily due to the quarterback play. You could easily argue for some order of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow being the NFL’s three best quarterbacks.

But while Allen’s Bills and Mahomes’ Chiefs will be tough to overcome, they haven’t improved significantly, if at all compared to last year.

Both teams were good enough to win it all last year, and that’s still true this year, but neither team has added game-changing players who will be available in these playoffs.

The Chiefs’ ground game got a solid upgrade in rookie running back Isiah Pacheco, but the passing game suffered a significant loss when Tyreek Hill was traded to Miami. Kansas City has a more balanced offense now, but it’s not drastically better than last year, and it’s a lot easier to game plan for JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling than it is for Hill, an All-Pro with devastating speed.

Defensively, cornerback Trent McDuffie and defensive end George Karlafitis have been solid additions through the draft, but overall, this is mostly the same unit Cincinnati beat three times in the year 2022.

The Bills, on the other hand, made seemingly the perfect acquisition by landing free agent defensive end Von Miller. That was the kind of elite pass rusher the Bills defense needed to slow down Burrow and the Bengals offense. That was the game-changer, and personally, I don’t see this Bengals team beating this Bills team with Miller, especially if the game is in Buffalo.

Unfortunately, Miller suffered a torn ACL and is out for the year, leaving the Bills defense about where it was last year, which was one of the league’s best, but again, hasn’t significantly improved, and the offense is mostly the same as it was last year.

Again, the Chiefs and Bills are both elite, but they’re still beatable for these Bengals, who should be slightly better than they were a season ago when they won the AFC. That’s why Cincinnati is a very real threat to repeat as AFC champs, no matter which teams are in their way.