Bengals vs Ravens: Predict the final score

The Bengals take on the Ravens on New Year’s Day for their final game of the 2016 NFL season. This year, for the first time in six years, the Bengals will be watching the playoffs from the comfort of their own couches, instead of playing in Wild Card weekend.

It’s been that kind of season.

Today’s game will be missing many players for Cincinnati as A.J. Green, Tyler Eifert, Clint Boling and Cedric Ogbuehi were placed on Injured Reserve this week. Doubtful for the game are Vontaze Burfict and Tyler Kroft, and Jeremy Hill is questionable, but also not expected to play.

How crazy is that? Think about the Bengals’ high-scoring 2015 offense and compare it to who will be playing in this Week 17 game to close out the 2016 season.

No Hue Jackson, Marvin Jones, Mohamed Sanu or Andre Smith. A.J. Green and Giovani Bernard are on I.R. Hill might not play and has been less than stellar all season. The Bengals’ offense is far different than it was last season, and that’s been a big problem all season. No wide receiver who will be playing for the Bengals today was on the 53-man roster last year.

So, scoring may be hard for the Bengals to do without many of their key players on offense. Expect Cody Core, Tyler Boyd, Brandon LaFell and Rex Burkhead to help Andy Dalton carry the offense and get points on the board. Hopefully, the team will be more successful than they were in Houston last week, and more successful than they were in Baltimore back in Week 12.

The Bengals were only able to put 12 offensive points on the board in that Week 12 matchup, and then the Ravens decided to hold every player on the field in the final seconds of the game, forcing the Bengals to add a safety to their point total to hand Baltimore the game. The final score was 19-14, Ravens.

What are you predicting the score to be in Week 17 for the Bengals’ final game of the season? Leave your guess in the comments below!

Happy New Year!