Can the 2-0 Bengals survive Joe Burrow’s injury? Predicting how their schedule plays out over final 15 weeks

Heading into the 2025 NFL season, the Cincinnati Bengals were viewed as a Super Bowl contender, but after losing Joe Burrow to long-term injury on Sunday, the oddsmakers have essentially given up on the Bengals. 

With Burrow set to miss at least three months due to his toe injury, the Bengals Super Bowl odds went from 20-to-1 to 80-to-1 in a span of 24 hours. With Burrow out, Jake Browning will now be taking over at quarterback and he actually has experience in this exact situation: Back in 2023, Browning was forced to make seven starts after Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury and he went 4-3. 

At this point, there aren’t many people out there who are giving the Bengals a chance of even making the playoffs, but coach Zac Taylor isn’t listening to the outside noise. During a press conference on Monday, Taylor made it clear that every goal that the Bengals made before the season is still attainable with Browning at QB. 

“I feel very confident in Jake,” Taylor said. “I think Jake has proven his caliber in this league and he can help us win football games and contend for all the things we want to contend for.”

So is this just crazy coach talk or can the Browning play well enough to save the Bengals’ season? Let’s break down the rest of their schedule and find out.  

Week 3: Bengals at Vikings

The Bengals will actually be catching a break here with Carson Wentz set to be filling in at quarterback for J.J. McCarthy, who is expected to miss the game due to an injured ankle. Wentz has only started a total of two games since the beginning of the 2023 season and it can be hard to shake off that kind of rust in one week. On the Bengals’ end, Browning has faced a Brian Flores defense before, so he knows what he’s up against. Back in 2023, he threw for 324 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Minnesota. Prediction: Bengals 23-20 over Vikings

Week 4: Bengals at Broncos (Monday)

Browning has only played one Monday game in his career and it was a wild one with the QB leading the Bengals to a 34-31 win over the Jaguars in a game where Jacksonville was favored by 10. Browning threw for 354 yards and a touchdown in the win. He’s certainly good enough to keep the Bengals in this game, but the Broncos are a tough defensive matchup and it’s hard to see Cincinnati stealing this one on the road. Prediction: Broncos 27-20 over Bengals

Week 5: Lions at Bengals

This game will come down to whether the defense can slow down Jared Goff and the Lions’ high-flying offense. Based on the first two weeks of the season that seems unlikely. The Bengals defense has struggled to slow down the passing attack of their opponents with Joe Flacco throwing for 290 yards and Trevor Lawrence throwing for 271. The defense has forced several huge turnovers, but if that doesn’t happen against the Lions, it could be a long day. Prediction: Lions 31-24 over Bengals

Week 6: Bengals at Packers

The Packers currently look like the best team in the NFL and it’s hard to imagine Browning leading the team into Lambeau and pulling off an upset here. Prediction: Packers 27-17 over Bengals

Week 7: Steelers at Bengals (Thursday)

With the Bengals on a three-game losing streak, this could be a spot where Browning potentially has a chance to save the Bengals season. The Steelers defense has completely fallen apart. Not only have they been bad through the first two weeks of the season, but they weren’t very good at the end of last season. 

With this game at home in primetime, Browning and the Bengals pick up a huge win by knocking off Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers. Prediction: Bengals 27-24 over Steelers

Week 8: Jets at Bengals

Week 9: Bears at Bengals

We’re lumping these two games together because they’re both winnable and they’re both at home. The Bears are surrendering 39.5 points per game through the first two weeks and the Jets haven’t been much better, giving up 32 points per game (They are two of the three teams that have surrendered more than 32 points per game through two weeks). The Bengals should be able to score points against both teams. 

Prediction: Bengals 31-20 over Jets
Prediction: Bengals 30-23 over Bears

WEEK 10: Bye

We have the Bengals at 6-3 heading into their Week 10 bye and for that to actually happen, Browning just needs to lead them to a 4-3 record from Week 3 through Week 9. 

Week 11: Bengals at Steelers

Browning might lead the Bengals to one win over the Steelers, but it’s hard to imagine him pulling off the sweep. The Bengals haven’t swept this series since 2021 and we don’t see that changing this year. Prediction: Steelers 24-17 over Bengals

Week 12: Patriots at Bengals

The Patriots pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the 2024 season when they beat the Bengals in Week 1 and they pull off another upset here by taking down the Bengals in Cincinnati once again. And once the season is over, it becomes clear just how costly this loss ends up being. Prediction: Patriots 19-16 over Bengals

Week 13: Bengals at Ravens
Week 14: Bengals at Bills
Week 15: Ravens at Bengals

These three games are lumped together because it’s hard to imagine the Bengals winning any of them. The first one is a Thanksgiving matchup against the Ravens that will be played on the road in primetime. The Ravens are 18-2 in their past 20 home primetime games. Beating the Bills has been Joe Burrow’s specialty, but with Burrow out, and the Buffalo game sandwiched between two Baltimore games, it would be a tough task to pull off the upset. 
Prediction: Ravens 34-24 over Bengals
Prediction: Bills 30-20 over Bengals
Prediction: Ravens 31-23 over Bengals

Week 16: Bengals at Dolphins

This is where things will officially get interesting. If Burrow is out for three months, then there’s a chance that he would be back on the field for this game. Based on our predictions so far, the Bengals would be sitting at 6-8 and in the thick of the playoff race. If they could run off three straight wins to end the season, they could probably get in. The Dolphins feel like a team that could be in total meltdown mode by the time this game rolls around, so we’ll give the win to Cincinnati whether the QB is Burrow or Browning. Prediction: Bengals 31-20 over Dolphins

Week 17: Cardinals at Bengals

The Bengals should be getting a huge homefield advantage and that’s mostly because they’ll be facing a indoor Cardinals team that has to fly across the country to play an outdoor game in December. Since the start of the 2022 season, the Cardinals are 0-3 when playing in a game where the kickoff temperature is 40 degrees or lower. That includes a loss to Carolina last December in a game where the Cardinals were favored by five. Prediction: Bengals 24-20 over Cardinals

Week 18:  Browns at Bengals 

For the third straight season, the Bengals are going to find themselves in the same exact spot: Sitting at 8-8 going into the regular season finale with a shot at a winning record and a possible playoff berth if they win. At this point, there’s no way to know who the Browns will be starting at quarterback, but with this game being played in Cincinnati, we’ll give the win to the Bengals, who have won four straight against the Browns. Prediction: Bengals 20-17 over Browns

Jake Browning might not get the Bengals to the playoffs, but he can certainly keep them in contention while Burrow is out. One thing working in the Bengals’ favor is that they’ll be facing several defenses that are currently struggling. Heading into Week 3, there are eight teams who are surrendering 29 points per game or more and the Bengals will play eight of their final 15 games against those teams (Browns, Ravens x 2, Steelers x 2, Dolphins, Bears, Jets), so the Bengals offense will certainly go into those games with some confidence. 

Although we have the Bengals going 9-8 here, we have them losing almost every big game — at Broncos, Lions, at Packers, at Steelers, at Ravens, at Bills, Ravens — if they can steal just ONE of those games, that would give Cincinnati a chance to steal a playoff berth. If that happens and the Bengals have Burrow back in the lineup for the postseason, they would quickly become the team that no one wants to face.