The Bengals took another step closer to a division title with Sunday’s victory over the Colts, but they may be shorthanded for some or all of their remaining regular season games.
Coach Marvin Lewis said on Monday, via Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer, that Newman was “a little sore” after injuring his knee in the win. Reedy thought that might have been an understatement since Newman was in a brace and “not moving it at all.”
A report from Chris Mortensen of ESPN suggests the same. Mortensen reports that Newman is expected to miss up to three weeks because of a sprained MCL, which would take the Bengals right through the end of the regular season.
While they haven’t officially booked their passage, it would take a monumental collapse and a lot of bad luck for the Bengals to miss the playoffs at this point. Winning the division will still take a little work, though, and losing Newman will hurt at a position that’s already missing Leon Hall. It would hurt more to be thin for a playoff game, though, so caution will likely be the route chosen in Cincinnati.