According to many at this time lat year, The Browns were on the verge of a dynasty with Baker Mayfield leading the way to a renaissance… meanwhile a bunch of people kept saying they were going to fall off and to not sleep on the Bengals
Two years ago, we were in the Midst of tge inevitable and unstoppable Lamar Jackson led Ravens dynasty, but a lot of people said that with more tape he’d come back to the pack and the Browns, who were playing an easier schedule and had no expectations after the previous season’s collapse, were going to be a problem that year
Three years ago The Browns were a super bowl favorite and universally picked to win the division going away… people accurately pointed out that that team wilts under expectations and wasn’t mature enough to handle things….
The Bengals had a lightning in the bottle season… people never expected JC to have that kind of immeadiate impact, and didn’t have a solid way to stop Chase, and after midseason the defense solidified in a way that people weren’t expecting …
This year they added to the Oline, but as we know all too well, Olines don’t gel overnight and good players aren’t always plug n play from scheme to scheme
People are going to have a better grasp of that three wideout offense, and that defense.. they will play a first place schedule and teams aren’t going to overlook them because “they are the Bengals “ there is a good reason teams like the Bengals drop off…
Conversely nobody is picking the Steelers this year… if the qb can overcome the line issues this team should be really solid…
