# John Middlekauff: Middlekauff picked the Bengals to win the AFC North and claim the No. 1 seed, the Cowboys to win the NFC East with Dak Prescott as MVP, the 49ers to win the NFC West, and predicted Max Crosby gets traded to the Bears midseason.

**Claimed:** Aug 15, 2026
**Pundit:** John Middlekauff — https://missedtakes.co/pundits/john-middlekauff
**Outlet:** The Herd with Colin Cowherd (podcast) — https://missedtakes.co/outlets/the-herd-with-colin-cowherd-podcast
**How it reached us:** said on air or in an interview
**Original:** https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/1508ddb2-0c9a-42f6-aafe-ae3300346aa9/4b9772fd-1d9e-4d6d-a38c-b4a600fc0859/audio.mp3?in_playlist=bf391792-153e-41b3-9d3d-ae3300346ad8

One checkable claim, graded on its own against what actually happened.

Nothing to score yet: this grades once the result is in.

> I got a team finishing first, and they're the Cincinnati Bengals. I got him as the number one seed in the AFC.

*(their words, quoted for attribution)*

## The claims

- **Cincinnati Bengals to win the division**
  - Kind: Division Winners · About: Cincinnati Bengals
  - Verdict: not settled yet

## Who this take is about

- Cincinnati Bengals — https://missedtakes.co/nfl/teams/bengals

## What others said about the same people

- Pete Prisco on Cincinnati Bengals: Prisco gives score predictions for every Week 9 NFL game, picking the Bengals to rout the Falcons in Madrid, the Cowboys to rebound at Indianapolis, and the Jaguars to win in Baltimore without Lamar Jackson. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/dc43909b-bc7f-47aa-b208-5cf7c95844bc (scored 88.1)
- Derek Brown on Cincinnati Bengals: Brown picked the Bengals to beat the Falcons in Madrid, the Packers to win outright in New England and the Bills to beat the Vikings on Monday night. They were bullish on Jonah Coleman's rest-of-season value, expected Jonathan Taylor to play for the Colts, floated a Breece Hall trade, and did not expect DJ Reed to play in Week 9. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/b4014405-6764-427e-9708-679baf6b06de (scored 100)
- Eric Mangini on Cincinnati Bengals: Mangini picked New England to beat Green Bay by more than a field goal, flagged Tampa Bay as their upset alert over Chicago, expects Kansas City to handle the Jets, took Buffalo over Minnesota, backed Cincinnati over Atlanta in Madrid, and updated their Super Bowl to Rams–Bengals. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/af0819c3-4662-44a2-a451-a08fa3b7e59a (scored 100)
- Rich Eisen on Cincinnati Bengals: Previewing the Bengals-Falcons game in Madrid, Eisen expects Cincinnati to fall behind by two scores before Joe Burrow brings them back to win. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/1814997c-9222-4ccd-85dc-fb144339b45f (scored 100)
- Connor Rogers on Cincinnati Bengals: Rogers picked straight-up winners in every Week 9 game, agreeing with Simms on all of them, and gave a 24-20 Bills score over the Vikings on Monday night. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/11646f69-18dd-4831-a7de-e4115ded875c (scored 100)
- Chris Simms on Cincinnati Bengals: Simms gave a predicted final score for every Week 9 game, picking the Bengals, Chiefs, Broncos, Lions, Giants, Rams, Cowboys, Saints, 49ers, Patriots, Seahawks, Texans, Bears and Bills, and also said they wouldn't be shocked to see Jacksonville reach the AFC Championship Game. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/17eb747a-90b1-472f-bb6d-e71c0c69133a (scored 64.29)

## More division winners

The same kind of call, about other players and teams.

- Daniel DiBerardinis on Atlanta Falcons: Danny D predicts Sonny Styles goes in the top ten (maybe top five), doesn't think Ty Simpson goes before late first round, says Kenyon Sadiq lands with the Rams at 13, and picks the Falcons to win the NFC South while naming the Bengals an AFC bounce-back team. They also give a Final Four of Michigan, Florida, Purdue and Arizona with Michigan winning. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/8a8e0b7c-9f1c-4c13-8138-1332d73b9b02 (scored 0)
- Colin Cowherd on New York Giants: Cowherd projects the NFC East with the Giants winning the division ahead of Philadelphia, Washington and Dallas, pegging the Cowboys as a six- or seven-win team. They also expect Malik Willis to land a big free-agent deal, Kayvon Thibodeaux to be moved, and Baltimore to lose Isaiah Likely, and they float the Rams reaching on Ty Simpson late in round one. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/cd243624-9451-4824-a8a4-7b468d681c8f (scored 0)
- Colin Cowherd on Los Angeles Chargers: Cowherd unveiled their top 10 NFL teams entering next season, with Seattle first, the Rams second and the Chiefs tenth, and separately picked the Chargers to win the AFC West. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/78de302a-c2f9-41b4-8897-87943ca44caa (scored 0)
- Colin Cowherd on Baltimore Ravens: Cowherd likes Jacksonville, Chicago and Pittsburgh (with DK Metcalf back) in the wild-card round, ranks the league's head coaches with McVay first and Ben Johnson seventh, and predicts Lamar Jackson has about two strong years left. They also name the Rams as a possible team to draft a receiver and floats next year's draft having seven first-round quarterbacks. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/432d7268-d5b1-49f6-9435-12c9442d3023 (scored 0)
- Danny Parkins on Baltimore Ravens: Parkins lays the points with the Eagles and Cowboys, takes Baltimore to beat Pittsburgh and win the AFC North, picks Carolina over Tampa Bay and Seattle over San Francisco, and says they'd probably pick the Rams to come out of the NFC. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/23bf1e09-f607-4b9a-bdb4-888da7992c89 (scored 0)
- Rich Eisen on Jacksonville Jaguars: Eisen forecast the Week 18 results and the entire wild-card field: Buccaneers over Panthers but Carolina still gets in as the 5 seed when Atlanta beats New Orleans, 49ers over Seahawks, Ravens over Steelers, Jaguars beating Tennessee to win the AFC South, and six wild-card matchups (Seahawks-Panthers, Bills-Jaguars, Texans-Ravens, Packers-Bears, Chargers-Patriots, Rams-Eagles), with Houston upsetting Baltimore. They also tabbed Saints rookie Tyler Shough as a possible Offensive Rookie of the Year. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/34345186-876a-4c4b-9567-9c289a6cbace (scored 100)

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Accuracy is 0-100 against what actually happened. The naive guess is what a strategy requiring no knowledge would have scored on the same call — the difference is the skill, and it is what the MissedTakes Score averages.

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