No. 5 – San Francisco 49ers at Cincinnati Bengals (Dec. 20)
The only game that Andy Dalton is sure to miss is this Sunday’s showdown with the oft-hapless 49ers. Thus, San Francisco has a puncher’s chance when they travel to the Queen City to take on the Bengals; breaking in a new quarterback is never easy, so Cincinnati may struggle in week one with AJ McCarron at the helm. In order for that to happen, the Niners need to be the team they were when they upset the Bears in Chicago two weeks ago; that opportunistic team saw Blaine Gabbert make just enough plays to get a surprising road win. They can’t, however, be the doormat that got knocked off on Sunday in Cleveland; that sorry-looking unit let Johnny Manziel beat them.
What This Would Help: Denver is currently tied with Cincinnati for the No. 2 seed, so any Bengals loss is beneficial to the Broncos.
