Three AFC North teams played on the first Sunday of the 2021 regular season. Two of them came away with wins, and one of them was the Cincinnati Bengals, who for the second year in a row held a top-five draft pick by virtue of their earning it the old-fashioned way: not being good.
While we can probably hold off on the streamers and confetti for a home overtime victory over the Minnesota Vikings, it was a not insignificant afternoon, marking the inaugural NFL connection between quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
Burrow was the first overall pick last year.