The Bengals will look to buck several trends Sunday vs. the Bills

This will be a setting Cincinnati hasn’t won in for quite some time.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Joe Burrow, has been a vital building block in the Bengals’ return to glory. Cincinnati has made the AFC Championship Game in two straight years. Burrow has been a large part of its success.

The Bengals, during the regular season, have been solid as well, winning two straight AFC North titles. When the lights are brightest, Burrow’s best comes to play. He is a perfect 4-0 in primetime home games during the regular season.

However, as Jeremy Rauch and Chris Roling note, the Bengals don’t exactly win regular-season games on Sunday Night Football, while the Bills under Josh Allen have been very good in that setting.

Burrow sustained a calf strain during training camp, and that injury carried into the regular season. Couple that with missing the preseason and most of camp, and Burrow struggled immensely during the first several weeks.

However, he got going in a big way against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 8.

Burrow threw for three touchdowns, tied for his most this season. He also connected on a season-high 87.5% of his attempts. While Burrow ended up taking three sacks, those were just for 17 yards, so they weren’t too detrimental.

The Bengals are back, and so is Burrow. They will be favored on Sunday night, and the expectations are lofty for the 26-year-old star quarterback.

This game will be paramount for the Bengals’ postseason odds as they are 4-3, and pushing them to 5-3 is crucial, especially given their second down the back-half of the season.