Joe Burrow’s return could set up Bengals fans for more heartbreak

People are really mad about football stuff right now.

This is mostly true on the collegiate level, and who could have ever imagined a world where continually moving the goalposts was a bad idea? But as we march deeper into December there are plenty of NFL fans upset, too. More and more teams are being eliminated, officially and effectively, from playoff or divisional contention and that means that things are getting pretty interesting elsewhere.

Consider that Week 14 gave us an insane snow game, the Saints and Titans both winning, and the end of the Chiefs dynasty.

We here at The Skinny Post, Michael Peterson and RJ Ochoa, are here to discuss it all.

RJ:

On one hand I think Bengals fans probably feel excited about the fact that Joe Burrow is playing and doing so very well. That has to be fun to enjoy.

On the other hand though… seeing the offense move and groove with Burrow and the team at large going toe to toe against Buffalo in the snow has to be painful, even if it was in a losing effort. What I mean by this is it is so clear and obvious that the Bengals are a force when Burrow is under center, but that just hasn’t been the case on a consistent basis in some time.

It sort of feels like we are destined to look back at this Cincinnati era with a lot of what-ifs. Consider that next year will mark five years since the Bengals had that glorious run to the Super Bowl. The time is adding up.

Michael:

I think they can feel both to some degree. However, the “good” only goes as far as winning games in the moment. That feeling immediately turns to sad when they realize they’re already too far behind overall on the season and there’s likely no shot they make the postseason. It also puts the Bengals franchise on a double-edged sword. Having Burrow come back and winning games looks good and feels good while it’s happening, but at the same time, they’re earning warm fuzzies while losing out on a better draft position/prospect they could add for a better bounce-back season in 2026.

I understand that teams are never purposely going to lose or aid in a tank job, but this is still something the fan base will be grappling with for the remainder of the year.

Michael:

I think it might be the bias of the moment but I’m going with the Saints here. They just picked up the most impressive win of the season between the two franchises and I can’t help but take their history of having a strong culture into consideration. They’ve also still got plenty of talent on their roster, with most of it coming on the defensive side. Shough hasn’t been all that great, but the first step to becoming a winning quarterback is just playing well enough not to lose. He managed to do that against the Bucs, even though it came in an ugly zero-touchdown, one-interception performance.

RJ:

I can’t imagine what a parlay on these two teams to win would have paid, but it was a lot of fun to watch in a chaotic sort of way. Tennessee beating Cleveland was hardly a surprise, but the Saints winning at Tampa Bay caught everyone off guard.

If I had to bet long-term on one of these teams, obviously without knowing who is coaching the Titans in 2026, I think I would take my chances with the Saints. It is going to be fascinating to see which of the draft’s top quarterbacks they wind up with, but whoever it is, the team has Kellen Moore calling the offense and that is the variable among all involved that I feel most confident in.

RJ:

Why are we just glossing over the fact that the Ravens are awful right now? They lost what was effectively a playoff game to a Steelers team that we do not think very highly of at all. Why is this just accepted?

Baltimore has been a complete and total failure this season. Given the Chiefs’ issues in 2025 (more on that in a moment) I have to imagine that their fans (along with those out of Cincinnati) are sick knowing that the AFC playoff field will likely be devoid of Mahomes. You have to strike when the iron is hot and the Ravens are putting the iron in the freezer.

I don’t think now is necessarily the time to move on from John Harbaugh, but it would be such a flat feeling for the Ravens to make no major changes following this campaign.

Michael:

Prior to Week 14, a friend of mine who’s a Ravens fan texted me to let me know just how bad Lamar Jackson has been in the prior three games he’s played. When I saw that Jackson had thrown zero touchdowns to three interceptions over that span, I was floored. How was this happening? He’s a two-time MVP with plenty of weapons around him. How was this even possible?

For this reason alone, I do believe the Ravens aren’t getting enough criticism. The Steelers have shown to not be all that great this year and the Ravens with a healthy Jackson should have taken care of business.

Michael:

After their loss to the Texans on Sunday night, I think the truthfulness of this statement is gaining more and more steam. Like, we are talking about a Kansas City Chiefs team, quarterbacked by Patrick Mahomes, sitting with a 6-7 record with four more weeks to go in the regular season.

That’s just an unheard of reality since he’s been the starter under Andy Reid. And it’s not due to a bunch of injuries or a lack of talent! This Chiefs team is simply not coming up in the majority of the moments where we’ve usually seen them do just that.

For the first time in what feels like ages, we may have a truly fresh matchup in the AFC Championship Game and I am all the way here for it.

RJ:

I’ll say that I finally feel comfortable noting that they are not going to reach the playoffs. It is obviously still possible, but the hole appears to be too deep given their recent form.

I don’t know that I think the dynasty is over in the sense that they will never win another Super Bowl with Patrick Mahomes, but I do think they are going to have to do some soul-searching this offseason. Do they part ways with key figures and reset for the next core to surround their all-world quarterback? That makes sense. The model that New England used to sustain Tom Brady’s greatness forever is easy to follow in a theoretical way.

But I am so curious to see who will be in the AFC Championship Game now. And where it will be.