As the Browns and Bengals are tied 1-1 after playing each other this season, many people  think that these teams are evenly matched. Sadly, for Bengals fans, your team is the inferior one. Now I know everyone is going to look at our record and the Bengals success last season but recorders don’t always tell the full story.

This has been an eventful season, to put it simply. The Browns traded for Deshaun Watson, who didn’t even play the first 11 games of the season because he got suspended for being a “stand up gentleman.” Watson has been rusty but if you look at the Browns roster, we have all the pieces to outdo the Bengals next season. 

The Browns defense can match up with the Bengals two man show of Joe Burrow and Jamarr Chase, as was shown last season. The only thing holding the Browns back is Joe Woods, the defensive coordinator, who doesn’t do his job half of the time. 

The offense on the other hand contains promise all over the field. At the wide receiver position, we have a veteran in Amari Cooper and some young talent in Donovan Peoples-Jones, who has been quietly having a breakout year. At running back, The Browns have the duo of Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb to run through the trenches. David Njoku, a tight end, plays well when he is healthy and all these offensive weapons when combined with Watson, when he’s gotten the rust off, completes the perfect recipe for success. 

Browns fans have waited for a repeat of the successful 2020-2021 season, where they made the playoffs and demolished the Steelers. They may not have to wait too long though, as the future in the Land is looking brighter than ever.

On Halloween night the Bengals and Browns faced each other in Cleveland. The Bengals would upset  32-13 in a total beat down. Then the script would flipped in week 14 with a 23-10 bengals win. 

During pregame warmups wide receiver Tee Higgins would strain his hamstring and only play one snap, then on the second play of the game Tyler Boyd jammed and broke his finger. That left the Bengals with just Ja’Marr Chase. Chase took the game into his hand with 10 catches for 119 yards and one score. Chase caught 10 of Joe Burrows’ 18 completions. He is the difference maker for the bengals, he missed the first matchup with fractured hip. Burrows favorite wideout does more than just catch passes, he makes team game plans and accounts for him every play. The first matchup was the Bengals first game without Chase and they didn’t know how defenses would play against them with Chase out of the lineup.

On defense the Bengals got back their star defensive tackle DJ Reader a 6-Foot-3 327 pound run stopper. In the first bout Nick Chubb ran for 101 yards and two TD’s, against Reader he only ran for 34 yards. Plus in the pass game CB Cam Taylor-Britt sealed the game with a 4th down pass break up in the end zone VS Donovan Peoples-Jones.

The Bengals now won five straight games tying the Baltimore Ravens for first place in the AFC North. In the coming weeks the bengals face Buffalo and Baltimore with the hope to capture the AFC North title or even the top seed in the whole AFC.