The Cincinnati Eagles: The 2022 Bengals are a lot like the 2018 Eagles

In just his second season, a quarterback who was a first overall pick is heading to the Super Bowl. And his team had a losing record the previous season.

And, he suffered a torn ACL Week 11 last season.

He’s doing that with a third-year head coach and a rookie receiver who’s already one of the best in the business. And in both the Divisional Round and the Conference Championship, his team was the underdog.

And most importantly, he has a chance to bring a Vince Lombardi trophy to his organization for the first time in history.

This player is of course Joe Borrow. And his team is the Cincinnati Bengals.

But this sounds pretty familiar, right? Think back to the 2017-18 NFL season.

Top-two pick. Torn ACL. Newer head coach with his first team. Yeah, sounds pretty familiar.

The Philadelphia Eagles were led by second-overall pick Carson Wentz to the best record in football.

The big difference was that it looked like all was lost when Wentz suffered a torn ACL at the end of the regular season. But in came Nick Foles, who led Philly to upset wins in both the Divisional Round and Conference Championship.

Big help came from Alshon Jeffery, who like Chase, was in his first year with the team (No, of course Jeffery wasn’t a rookie). And of course second-year head coach Doug Peterson.

Nobody saw the Eagles getting to the Super Bowl after Wentz went down for the year. Except for Eagles fans.

Similarly, not many saw the Bengals getting to the big game, especially with Borrow coming back from a serious injury. Except for Bengals fans.

Against all odds, the Bengals got there.

Will they repeat history? The Eagles beat the Patriots 41-33 in a closed-roof stadium on NBC, called by Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth.

The Bengals play the Rams in a closed-roof stadium on NBC, which will of course be called by Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth.

That’s not all.

Earlier in 2018, Alabama and Georgia played each other in the College Football Playoff National Championship. In 2022, Alabama and Georgia also played each other in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

The circumstances are too perfect.