There’s a good chance the outcome of Cincinnati’s Week 17 game against the Baltimore Ravens won’t matter. As long as the Denver Broncos beat a bad San Diego Chargers team that same day, the Bengals will be forced to host the Chiefs, Jets or Steelers on wild-card weekend.
That’s why the Bengals might be better off resting key players, including backup-turned-interim-starting quarterback AJ McCarron.
With reports emerging that Pro Bowl-caliber starter Andy Dalton will miss several more weeks, the Bengals can’t afford to take any chances with McCarron. The second-year pivot has thrown just 92 career passes and has started just two games, but he’s coming off a solid road performance against a strong Broncos team and has a stellar 95.1 passer rating.
It’s enough to make you wonder if McCarron might be good enough to hold things down for the Bengals in for a week or two in January.
But without McCarron, a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since 1990 would be in real trouble. The only other quarterback on the roster is 2014 sixth-round Ball State product Keith Wenning, who has never thrown a regular-season NFL pass and was promoted from the practice squad only two weeks ago.
Problem is McCarron suffered a “significant sprain” to his left wrist late in Monday night’s game, according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport. Reports suggest he’ll try to play Sunday, but the Bengals should monitor that closely while also keeping tabs on Denver’s game against San Diego. Even if McCarron does start, he should be pulled if the Broncos begin to pull away from the Chargers.
And veteran starters should join him on the sideline.
