Cris Collinsworth is supposed to be neutral when he’s in the booth for Sunday Night Football. But he can make predictions in August about the Super Bowl in February.
And the receiver-turned-NFL analyst went against conventional late-summer projection. And he predicted an upstart team brings home the Lombardi Trophy from Allegiant Stadium in Vegas. The crew of Good Morning Football on the NFL Network asked Collinsworth the Super Bowl question ,Tuesday.
“I’m picking the Cincinnati Bengals for the first time in my entire life,” said Cris Collinsworth, who, coincidentally, is a former Bengal.
And the reason for his certainty?
“I think that Joe Burrow is too good to, at this point. not have a ring on his finger. You know, let’s put a ring on it,” Collinsworth said. “Let’s go. He’s been too good. Look at the skill positions they’ve got around this guy. I mean Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd, Joe Mixon. Which team skill position players would you rather have? Joe Burrow has been right there, give and take, you know with Patrick Mahomes, and they split the games that they’ve been in.
“They go to Buffalo in the snow and make some brilliant plays there.” Collisworth said. “Trey Hendrickson, Sam Hubbard on the edge some great, young speed in the secondary. This is the year. And one of the reasons that I like them so much is that they play in the AFC North. I mean this is in my opinion, (it’s) the toughest division in all of football. So while they may not even win the North, the Bengals may not. But by the time you slugged your way through that division, you’re battle tested, you’re ready.”
Now, the Cris Collinsworth prediction is all predicated on Joe Burrow’s tender calf. (Or on any other possible injury this season. Burrow has missed all but a few hours of training camp as he rehabs a strained calf muscle. But the outlook for Burrow is bright.
Reporters asked Cincy coach Zac Taylor for a Burrow status update.
“He looks great. Physically just walking around, he looks probably as good as he’s ever looked at this point,” Taylor told the media. “That’s a positive and we’ll just go from there.”
The Bengals finish their preseason schedule with a road game against the Commanders this Saturday. Taylor said Burrow needs only one rep to get back into the game flow. But then again, so long as Burrow is back at some point, Cris Collinsworth is good with his prediction.
More must-reads: