Bengals Have Eyes on Much More Than a Second-Straight AFC North Championship

Cincinnati has won six-straight games.

Fans love to talk about seeding and the playoff picture, especially when they're favorite team is in a race with the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs for the No. 1-seed in the AFC. When fans chatter about it, the media talks about it, and we ask the players and coaches about it.

Does the team talk about seeding and the race for the top spot? Do they talk about the playoff picture amongst themselves the way we all do? That answer depends on who is on the other side of that question. The Bengals can clinch a playoff berth on Thursday night if the Jacksonville Jaguars (6-8) beat the New York Jets (7-7).

"We're focused on winning the division, there's a lot more that's going to have to go into it than winning this week," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. "This week is a step in doing that, we are fully focused on playing our best football because we know how much of a challenge this going to be. But you got to take care of this one before you can focus on anything behind that. We are just focused on beating New England."

Cornerback Mike Hilton has his eyes on the top seed. 

“We want that number one spot in the AFC, we want everything to come to Cincinnati,” Hilton said. “We know if we have to go on the road we are confident that we can take care of business. With guys like TB (Tyler Boyd) standing right beside me we feel like we can go out there and beat anybody so we are excited.”

If you ask Ja’Marr Chase you notice how high his intellect can go with the way he plays on the words by being specific about where the playoff conversation does not happen.

“Not in this building we don’t really talk about it besides finishing off the next game that we have in front of us,” Chase said. “We are worried about the hats and shirts but at the moment, right now we are taking it one step at a time.”

Jonah Williams elaborated further on that way of thinking. Williams in fact has been saying a similar version of this answer since week three when the Bengals were 0-2. Back when many were laughing at the thought of Cincinnati winning the division.

“We don’t really talk about that,” he said. “It’s not relevant to what we are doing necassarily. It’s kind of out of our control and we just know that we keep winning these games and put ourselves in position the first 15 weeks that if we keep winning these games we know that we are going to win the North, we know we are going to get good seeding and all of that. That’s all we can control and that’s what we are focused on.”

Like Williams and Taylor, Joe Burrow echoed the same thoughts and leaned into his focus which is winning each week. He made sure to keep focus on the next opponent over fantasizing about seeding or the playoffs.

"Our goal is to go 1-0 this week and I think the rest will take off itself from there," Burrow said.

There’s no doubt that the players on this team have a a close bond, closer than we’ve seen in years past. Linebacker Clay Johnston described their relationships in a way that makes it sound like these players have been friends since childhood.

“It’s like a brotherhood. We have such a tight locker room and it’s like a family in here. You can see it we are playing ping pong, you’ve got guys playing cards and we don’t just play ping pong and cards just here,” Johnston said. “We go over to a guys house and crack open a nice cold Dr. Pepper if you know what I mean and we’ll play some cards and some ping pong. So it’s not just here its outside of the facility even though people have wives and kids and families and stuff i mean we just love spending time with each other and i think that’s a testament to where we are right now and we’ll keep ascending."

The young linebacker admits they've thought about much more than just a division title.  

“I think it would be (AFC North Title) a statement for us, but I think there’s more than that," Johnston said. "We have the ability to control what we want. We can get the first seed if we win out and it just all depends. Right now we’ve got to take it one day at a time, but we’ve always thought that but I think we have bigger and better goals too.”

The journey for this team has gone from starting the year 0-2, and facing an 0-3 divisional record to now riding a six-game win streak and a 10-4 record. 

As health returns, so does excitement with three weeks remaining in the regular season and the potential to clinch a spot in the playoffs before the team suits up for an AFC showdown in New England.

Cincinnati plays New England on Christmas Eve. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET on CBS. You can watch via fuboTV—start your free trial here.

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