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If there's one city where the Bengals almost never win, it's Pittsburgh. The prediction here is that the upset happens. If the Bengals can pull off an upset at Soldier Field, that would mean knocking off a playoff team from last season, which should give them a lot of confidence going forward. This game is going to come down to how well the Bengals play against the Bears defense. Even if Dalton is the starter, though, the Bengals aren't going to win or lose this game because of him. If Dalton earns the starting quarterback job for the Bears out of training camp, he'll almost certainly be the starter when the Bengals get to Chicago. This is a fascinating matchup and that's because it could turn into an Andy Dalton revenge game. Although he'd certainly love to win this game, it's not going to happen because his defense is going to get diced up by Burrow (Note: The pick could change here if Burrow isn't ready to play). That being said, this is also a revenge game for Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, who spent six seasons in Cincinnati as the Bengals defensive coordinator. The good news for the Bengals is that this is going to be a revenge game for their new starting tackle, Riley Reiff, who spent his past four years in Minnesota. As long as Burrow has time to throw, the Bengals should be able to score a lot of points. Burrow's mouth should be watering at the thought of going up against a Vikings team that had one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL last year. With Burrow likely making his return to the field, the Bengals get to face a very beatable team at home.

This is a perfect opener for the Bengals. The Bengals offensive line was the laughingstock of the league last year, only Burrow wasn't laughing, because you wouldn't be laughing either if you got hit as often as he did. Not only are they expected to have a completely healthy Joe Burrow - who's already back on the field in limited fashion - but they're going to have a totally revamped offensive line in front of him. Of course, if there's any year where they might actually get over hump, it feels like 2021 is the season where it could happen.

Basically, it feels like the Bengals are always on the cusp of being good, but they never actually end up being good. In 2020, the Bengals went 4-11-1 and the tantalizing part is that five of those 11 losses came by five points or less. To put that in perspective, the only other team to lead in 12 games but still manage to lose 14 times was the 1979 49ers who had Bill Walsh and Joe Montana (Walsh and Montana won the first of three Super Bowls together just three years after that). Not only did they lose eight games by just one score, but they also held the lead at some point during 12 of their 16 games.

Although they finished 2-14, the Bengals were in nearly every game they played. If you've ever wanted to know what true emotional pain is, then you should consider being a fan of the Bengals for a year, because no team tantalizes their fans more than the Cincinnati Bengals.