Bengals will ‘probably’ face Tyrod Taylor-led Chargers Week 1

The Bengals and Joe Burrow were pretty much destined to be paired up a few with a few weeks left in the season. That didn’t stop national media outlets and talking heads from trying to pitch a scenario where Cincinnati would be better off moving back in the draft by taking a king’s ransom for the first overall pick.

One name that was commonly mentioned in those situations was Justin Herbert.

We now know that Herbert ended up getting drafted sixth overall by the Chargers, but with the lack of practices, it seams the team thinks it may be better off starting their veteran option in Tyrod Taylor.

This really doesn’t change a whole lot outside of the narrative for Week 1. Instead of getting two of the top quarterback prospects starting their first game in a duel. we will have to be content with just Burrow getting his first start.

It would’ve been nice to have Burrow really outplay Herbert early to prove how crazy people were being for saying that the Bengals should take the trade over the Heisman winner. There still shouldn’t be much doubt that Burrow will eventually prove that point true anyway.

As for Taylor, he has a 1-1 record against Cincinnati. Both games came during his time with the Bills. He wasn’t particularly outstanding in either game. He never threw for more than 200 yards and either game, and he had a combined one passing touchdown and two interceptions over both of the games.

The Chargers seem to at least appear to be a slightly better equipped team than the Bills at that time. Keenan Allen and Mike Williams are a dynamic tandem on paper, and Austin Ekeler proved he can be a dynamic back in both the passing and running game.

Still, it is pretty obvious that Bengals fans will care more about what Burrow is doing at quarterback than whoever is playing quarterback for the other team. It is just unfortunate that we can’t rub as many peoples’ faces in Burrow being a Bengal Week 1.