Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium will give DeShone Kizer yet another chance to prove himself – to prove he can be the franchise quarterback the Browns so desperately need. This will be his 10th start of the year.

According to Hue Jackson, Kizer will continue getting opportunities through the end of the season because the Browns head coach wants to have as much tape on the rookie as he possibly can so he heads into the offseason knowing exactly where he’s at now and what he might develop into with more experience.

So if that indeed happens, then Kizer will have five more games after Sunday to audition.

Kizer had a great chance last Sunday to make an extremely positive statement. But he was unable – terribly so, really – to do that, as he failed to rally the Browns down the stretch in the fourth quarter in an eventual 19-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Late comebacks score well in the evaluation process.

The Bengals rolled to a 31-7 win in the teams’ first meeting back on Oct. 1 at Cleveland, handing the Browns their most thorough beating in an 0-10 season. As such, then, if Kizer can play well and direct the Browns to a win, he could begin to put himself back into the conversation – at least a little bit.

But another flub would really put Kizer behind the eight-ball – if he isn’t already there. Time is quickly running out.

A Kizer-led victory over Cincinnati is certainly not out of the question. He has shown flashes of excellence, and the Bengals are hardly world-beaters. They are just 4-6 after ending a two-game losing streak with a 20-17 victory over the stumbling Denver Broncos last Sunday. So that’s not exactly a signature win.

Points-wise, the Bengals have sputtered badly offensively. Other than their effort against the Browns, they’ve not scored more than 24 points and have been held in single digits three times, including getting shut out once. Their average of 16.9 points per game, which places them 29th in the 32-team NFL, is not that much better than the Browns’ 15.0 mark, which puts them dead-last. Considering the offensive talent Cincinnati has, even with all of the defections through free agency the last several years, that’s terribly disappointing.

So if Kizer can generate some offense against Cincinnati’s 10th-ranked defense (19.9 points allowed), then he and the Browns have a shot.