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The Cincinnati Bengals ended a 31-year drought for playoff wins. We have all heard plenty about that. That didn’t end up meaning a ton to these young Bengals who weren’t even alive the last time Cincinnati won a playoff game. These Bengals are hungrier for something more.
“It’s a great win for us, the city, and the organization, but we expected this,” Burrow said after the game. “There’s not going to be a big celebration like when we won the division. We took care of business, and it’s on to the next round.”
You can feel the authenticity from Burrow. This is consistent with how he has been at least since he gained more attention as a starter at LSU. He was telling media before the 2019 season how good they were going to be despite a rocky 2018 season. He has just always expected to win, and it doesn’t come off in a cheesy way.
Burrow isn’t the only one who doesn’t want to settle for the single win in the postseason. His favorite target — wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase — is ready to make a deep run.
“We ain’t accomplished nothing yet,” Chase told NFL Network. “We just got the first win. We’ve got more to go.”
The expectation for this team was set long ago. There is no reason this team can’t make a deep run. That thought was secured when they upset the Kansas City Chiefs to secure the AFC North in a game almost no one gave them a chance in.
After the game against Kansas City, tight end C.J. Uzomah said in the locker room “why not us?” That sentiment has become the rallying call for this team. Now that they don’t have to play with the weight of this long drought on their shoulders, it will be very fun to watch this team play a little more freely.
The scary thing is this team is still very young. They will have plenty of cap space to keep this team together and add a few pieces. The fact they have already accomplished more than any era in the past few decades says quite a bit where expectations for this team is not only in the future but this offseason.
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