Tuesday Trenches: The end of summer, and bold predictions

It’s the deep breath before the plunge.

It’s game week. We made it.

The 2024 NFL regular season kicks off in just two days, and just three days after that, the Cincinnati Bengals will open the season against the New England Patriots at home.

The Bengals have done everything they could do except extend Ja’Marr Chase, of course. Hopefully, he’s extended sometime between when you’re done reading this sentence and Sunday morning, and if he’s not, hopefully, he plays.

They addressed needs along the defensive line, at right tackle, in the secondary, at tight end, and wide receiver. There were no significant needs they didn’t address.

All they can do now is hope the ball bounces their way and there aren’t any significant injuries. That’s all they can do at this point. Hope.

Labor Day was Monday, and that day always signifies the end of summer to me. When I was a kid, it meant I was back at school in full swing, the swimming pools closed, the temperatures were going to start dropping, and football season was here.

Though summer officially lasts until September 22nd, Labor Day has always felt like the real farewell to the season.

And now Labor Day marks the end of the time for talk for the Bengals and the beginning of the time for action.

Everything, or at least most things, is stacked in their favor.

Their schedule is easier this season. At least half of the quarterbacks they face this year aren’t great or are inexperienced. Joe Burrow seems to be fully healthy and just completed his first-ever full training camp. They have a real shot. They’re one of the few teams who can call themselves real Super Bowl contenders.

They’ve done all they can.

Labor Day is over.

Banners have been called, and the legions have assembled. As Ol’ Billy Shakespeare once said, “Cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war.”

Now then, on to Bold Predictions:

The Cincinnati Bengals will win Super Bowl LIX

That’s the big one. Too many individual storylines line up. Joe Burrow seems ready to rock and roll from Week 1 and is fully healthy. Of course anything can change, injuries are out of the team’s hands. If the main characters stay healthy, especially Burrow, the Bengals win the Super Bowl.

I mentioned a bunch of reasons why. They’ve addressed all their needs. The Super Bowl is being played at the Superdome in New Orleans, where Burrow and Chase won their National Championship game against Clemson, and it’ll be in LSU’s back yard.

The story is already written.

Hopefully we get to just sit back and enjoy it now.

Joe Burrow will win NFL MVP

Burrow is one of a handful of guys on the short list for MVP this year. Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson are as well. Of the three, Burrow has the best offense around him, though. If the Bengals get what they hoped they could out of their rookie defensive tackles, if Myles Murphy or Joseph Ossai make a leap, and if the secondary is shored up with the new additions of Geno Stone and Bell, the defense could be a top unit as well.

I know that’s a lot of ifs, and we’re not talking about Joe Burrow, but all of this affects him.

The more the Bengals take off his shoulders, the more he can just do his thing, and if he spends his entire season healthy doing his thing, he’ll win MVP.

The AFC Championship Game will be played in Cincinnati

I truly am drinking the Kool-Aid right now, but that’s, like, the vibe, ya know?

If things go their way, I see the Bengals losing three or four games this season. The Ravens are the only real threat within the division, and while they beefed up their offense, they did so at the expense of their defense.

Luck is absolutely a thing. The Super Bowl-winning team has to be lucky.

The thing is good teams set themselves up for things to work out their way when luck comes into the equation. The Bengals have better players, are better coached, and it’s their turn.

The last stop on the road to New Orleans is Cincinnati.

Ja’Marr Chase has All-Pro Season; Tee Higgins has Pro Bowl season

I do believe the Bengals will get Chase signed before Week 1, and I think he’s going to explode. I think he’ll break his own franchise receiving-yards record, and I think he’ll break T.J. Houshmandzadeh’s receptions record. I think Burrow and Chase cement themselves as the league’s top quarterback-receiver duo.

Higgins, I think, also has a great season, which will make him a Pro Bowler, but not on the level of All-Pro. I think the Bengals and Higgins have a symbiotic relationship in 2024. The Bengals will use Higgins to win the franchise’s first Super Bowl, and Higgins will use the Bengals to make a ton of money.

Trenton Irwin will be a massive playoff hero

Every great story has a great hero. In some of the best stories, the heroics often come from an unlikely source. If Lady Galadriel taught us anything it’s that, “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”

Not to say that Trenton Irwin is a hobbit, but when you think of wide receiver and the Cincinnati Bengals, you think of Chase and Higgins. We, as Cincinnati Bengals fans, know Irwin well, but now the world will know him.

I’m looking for a David Tyree/Julian Edelman-style catch.

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There are more, but those are the five worth mentioning, and if the first one is to come true, the four that follow will be the reason.

I hope all your fantasy drafts went well over the Holiday Weekend unless you happen to be in one of my leagues. If that’s the case, I hope you did TERRIBLY.

Relevant Song Lyrics:

What if I say I’m not like the others?
What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays?
You’re the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?