Do the Miami Dolphins have a real shot at beating the Bengals?

The Miami Dolphins are 3-0 and facing the 1-2 Bengals on Thursday night but do they have a real shot at beating the “Stripes”? It’s a tough question to answer.

The answer is 100% yes so maybe it wasn’t that hard to answer after all.

They have a shot but if we dive a little deeper, into what might be the toughest game on the schedule so far, we will find that it won’t be an easy win.

Miami was able to handle their business against the Patriots and they blew out the Ravens in the 4th quarter of their comeback win in week two. Last week is the reason I wonder what tonight might bring.

In any other week, I might laugh off the ability of the Bengals to beat Miami, right now. The Bengals haven’t played football as you would expect from a Super Bowl team. Both the Dolphins and the Bengals are coming off short weeks but I would put money down that the Bengals are not as banged up as the Dolphins. Well, that would be easy considering the drastically different size of the Wednesday injury reports.

Miami is coming off a big win over the Bills. A win that was both emotionally and physically draining. While the Bills fans continue to cry about the heat, the Dolphins players played in it as well. Tua Tagovailoa is banged up and so are several key members of the offense and defense.

Miami is traveling to Ohio. In fact, they did yesterday which made them lose a day of prep work. It was reported yesterday that the team would do walk-throughs at a campus nearby in Cincinnati.

All of this adds up to another tough game for the Dolphins. Winning should quiet any of the doubters and a lopsided win should catapult the Dolphins into serious playoff contention talk. A loss won’t hurt Miami aside from future head-to-head possibilities. The Dolphins will either return home 3-1 or 4-0.

A 3-1 start is far more than many predicted but this team didn’t set out to win three games and lose one. They will fight and the Bengals may have a good team, but these Miami Dolphins are playing differently. There is an energy that we haven’t seen in decades. It’s a brotherhood.

To answer the question can the Dolphins realistically win tonight, the answer is 100% absolutely.