Every year in the NFL, we hear about Super Bowl-caliber teams having their window to win a Super Bowl beginning to close.
This notion tends to center around teams with talented rosters that may be taking a step back due to father time catching up, players leaving via free agency, or simply having other teams pass them by. The Bengals are one of the teams mentioned in such discussions for this coming season, but is it accurate?
One of the franchise's all-time greats is claiming the Bengals' window to win a Super Bowl is closing. During an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio, Anthony Munoz talked about his former team and the great string of winning seasons they've enjoyed, even if they unfairly are defined by their lack of playoff success.
"It’s ashamed that that’s what they’re defined by," Munoz said. "I would have loved to have seven of those seasons in my 13 years with the Bengals, but the bottom line is you’ve got to win a championship."
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If the Bengals are to win a title, they need to do it soon, according to Munoz, who thinks this team's window to get to the Super Bowl is closing soon.
"I believe the window is closing quickly," Munoz said. "They still have a very talented team. I really believe they have enough leadership there to get over that hump."
On one hand, this team does have a lot of key players who are hitting or already on the wrong side of 30, not to mention several key players hitting free agency over the next two years.
On another hand, the Bengals have Geno Atkins, Andy Dalton, A.J. Green, George Iloka, Shawn Williams, Clint Boling, Michael Johnson, Giovani Bernard and several other key players under contract for at least three more seasons. All of those aforementioned guys are also still young enough to think they'll be playing at a high level for at least three more years, so it's not hard to envision the Bengals being a title contender in 2016, 2017 and even 2018.
So depending on how you view the 'window is closing' theory, it's easy to see why that's the case in terms of the overall roster, but that's not the case with the franchise going into the next few years, and perhaps even beyond that.