(11-07-2021, 09:26 PM)jj22 Wrote: We aren't winning another game. Baltimore was the Superbowl.

It's on to the draft.

Does losing 2 in a row mean the season is automatically over for any team that does it, or just the Bengals?

(11-07-2021, 09:34 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: 3  puts us at 8 double last year in probably the hardest Division and 8-9 exceeds most predictions...

The afc is a joke this year

Going 8-9 would be horrendous

I'm going out on a limb and say we win our next 6. then lose our final 2 hope 11 -6 is good enough

11-6 would be my optimistic guess.

8-9 my pessimistic guess.

Both much better than my preseason guesses so.....profit I guess. Lots to look forward to. Hope it materializes.

Tough division....of which we are consistently the bottom of. Ravens succeed, Steelers succeed, and now the Browns succeed. But the division is tough, so cut them some slack? It is about total wins and the NFC North Bears and Packers beat us and the AFC East, one win Jets beat us. That's not the tough divisions fault. They are "tough" because they win. Sometimes against us, but also against the rest of the league.

It's the NFL. They teams are not going to lower their standards so the Bengals can win. An aged sex offender, the Baker experiment and the He's-not-a-real-QB teams have out paced the Bengals. #1OA Draft pick, highest rated WR in the draft and an offensive guru as a head coach and it is nothing but excuses why we can't win.

Come on, now.

A few weeks ago, this team was the bees knees. We were doing better than we had in a loooong time.

Now? A weirdo game to the Jets and a fluke to the Browns and its "welp, all done."

This team still has plenty of go left in them. Giving up now is nuts.

(11-07-2021, 10:56 PM)Benton Wrote: ...This team still has plenty of go left in them. Giving up now is nuts.

Yep.  Unless they somehow forget to play football, or the team is suddenly riddled with critical injuries... the season is NOT over.

(11-07-2021, 10:56 PM)Benton Wrote: Come on, now.

A few weeks ago, this team was the bees knees.  We were doing better than we had in a loooong time.

Now? A weirdo game to the Jets and a fluke to the Browns and its "welp, all done."

This team still has plenty of go left in them. Giving up now is nuts.

It is always entertaining to watch the mood of the board switch so quickly after one game or in this case two down weeks.

After Baltimore around these parts it was that honeymoon bliss, now it's like the end of a nasty divorce.

The bye comes at the perfect time for the Bengals, allows them to reset and make adjustments and for the board a week for people to relax and realize the team isn't dead in the water.

(11-07-2021, 09:42 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: Does losing 2 in a row mean the season is automatically over for any team that does it, or just the Bengals?

Just the Bengals. 

I agree. The next 8 games are all against quality opponents. There are no New York Jets, gimme type games on the schedule. Losing to the Bears and Jets could be huge at the end of the year in terms of the standings.

This team was in first place in that AFC. They had the chance to prove that they were for real against the Jets (and Browns). They are not for real.
This team has some major areas of weakness that need to be addressed in a short amount of time if they want to make a deep run.

They have been exposed as very weak in short yardage, pressure situations. They've been great intermediate and at times going deep. They're amazing out wide. The Browns are much better in every other position group (besides maybe QB and runningback).

The run blocking is inconsistent. The pass protection is questionable a lot of the time. Too top it off, Burrow just isn't there yet--and the pass rush has a big impact on this. He forces it a lot, and needs to get better in this area--and make better decisions to limit the turnovers. The lack of a consistent run game has an impact. A run game helps a QB tremendously. Just look at two QBs in Baker Mayfield and Tannenhill. Above average QBs (IMO) that look great because the offense caters to them.

I mentioned in the preseason that we would miss Bernard in the pass game blocking department, and I believe this to be a valid concern. The backs have been atrocious in this aspect this year.

You could also make the argument that the coaching needs to improve as far as play calling (mainly on O); but the play calling is easier with a dominant oline like the Browns have.

The defense needs to stiffen up as well. Covering backs. Run defense against elite run blocking teams. The secondary has been inconsistent at times, and they need another pass rusher to top off the pass rush. Ossai could be that player next year.

This team could still make a run at the playoffs, but I don't see this team being an AFC champion. The young players on the offensive line would have to improve quite a bit for this to happen in my opinion. We'll see though. I think we'll still have an entertaining rest of the year. But we obviously need to temper expectations. We can beat good teams. But we aren't consistent enough, and have some major weaknesses/areas that they need to improve drastically.

I think another successful draft and offseason coupled with the players maturing should allow us to hopefully make a run next year--but I'm not expecting it this year yet.

(11-07-2021, 10:56 PM)Benton Wrote: Come on, now.

A few weeks ago, this team was the bees knees.  We were doing better than we had in a loooong time.

Now? A weirdo game to the Jets and a fluke to the Browns and its "welp, all done."

This team still has plenty of go left in them. Giving up now is nuts.

I agree to this sentiment. However, we have major areas of weakness that need to improve dramatically going forward.

I think we can still make a good playoff push this year--but there is a small margin of error. I don't think we will go deep in the playoffs until we fix our main issues. It seems most likely that doesn't happen until another offseason boosts the talent on the team a little more.

So I agree with you. But I also think the last two games proved a lot to us in terms of if this team is a serious contender or not.

(11-07-2021, 10:56 PM)Benton Wrote: Come on, now.

A few weeks ago, this team was the bees knees. We were doing better than we had in a loooong time.

Now? A weirdo game to the Jets and a fluke to the Browns and its "welp, all done."

This team still has plenty of go left in them. Giving up now is nuts.

Agree for the most part. We're still 5-4 and I don't see any auto losses on the rest of the schedule. I think we need a guage at the top of the board that says what our overall mood is on the season. We could vote on it.

Right now, I'd say my mood is "Season isn't doomed, but I'm definitely concerned". If we lose next week, I'll probably have to give that a major downgrade.

Bye week is coming at a good time!

(11-07-2021, 09:42 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: Does losing 2 in a row mean the season is automatically over for any team that does it, or just the Bengals?

Its not the two games but how they lost, and also do you honestly see these issues being fixed in two weeks going into the hardest part of the schedule?

Also, how do you know that these issues weren't masked earlier in the season due to the opponent being played.


After last weeks game you said you weren't going to overreact and still were optimistic about the season. Bengals come out today and completely blow it in all phases of the game. Is it just another, "well this happens we are still going to pull it together?"

If we lose to the Raiders in two weeks will that excuse be, "Well flying out west to play a game is very hard on a team with the traveling"?

(11-08-2021, 12:14 AM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Agree for the most part. We're still 5-4 and I don't see any auto losses on the rest of the schedule. I think we need a guage at the top of the board that says what our overall mood is on the season. We could vote on it.

Right now, I'd say my mood is "Season isn't doomed, but I'm definitely concerned". If we lose next week, I'll probably have to give that a major downgrade.

The past couple weeks have sucked, no doubt about it, but I actually still have a pretty confident outlook when I look at the AFC:

11 teams currently have a winning record in the AFC. 

8 of those teams have lost 2 or more straight games.
6 of those teams has suffered a loss of 20 or more.
3 others have had a loss of between 14 to 18 points.

Of the 3 teams that haven't had back to back losses, 2 had blowout losses and one just lost to the Jags.

I think there's still plenty of reason for hope in the final 8 games, and also think the bye came at a perfect time for this team. They need to regroup and get the turnovers, drops and missed tackles cleaned up. If they can, they should contend for a playoff spot.

(11-08-2021, 12:22 AM)GodFather Wrote: Its not the two games but how they lost, and also do you honestly see these issues being fixed in two weeks going into the hardest part of the schedule?

Also, how do you know that these issues weren't masked earlier in the season due to the opponent being played.


After last weeks game you said you weren't going to overreact and still were optimistic about the season. Bengals come out today and completely blow it in all phases of the game. Is it just another, "well this happens we are still going to pul it together?"

If we lose to the Raiders in two weeks will that excuse be, "Well flying out west to play a game is very hard on a team with the traveling"?

We lost the last 2 games in totally different fashion. Folks are just mad we lost 2 games. 

(11-08-2021, 12:27 AM)bfine32 Wrote: We lost the last 2 games in totally different fashion. Folks are just mad we lost 2 games. 

Yup, the Jets came out ready to play and literally shocked the Bengals but it was still a close game.

The Browns came out and just took the Bengals out behind the old woodshed for a beating.

(11-08-2021, 12:27 AM)bfine32 Wrote: We lost the last 2 games in totally different fashion. Folks are just mad we lost 2 games. 

The defense got owned two games in a row. How is that different? 

And of course fans are mad they lost two in a row in a very ugly way. Talk about stating the obvious, how bout telling us another thought provoking statement?

(11-08-2021, 12:22 AM)GodFather Wrote: Its not the two games but how they lost, and also do you honestly see these issues being fixed in two weeks going into the hardest part of the schedule?

Also, how do you know that these issues weren't masked earlier in the season due to the opponent being played.


After last weeks game you said you weren't going to overreact and still were optimistic about the season. Bengals come out today and completely blow it in all phases of the game. Is it just another, "well this happens we are still going to pull it together?"

If we lose to the Raiders in two weeks will that excuse be, "Well flying out west to play a game is very hard on a team with the traveling"?

Six AFC teams currently in playoff contention have been blown out this year...including each of the top 3 teams.

(11-07-2021, 10:56 PM)Benton Wrote: Come on, now.

A few weeks ago, this team was the bees knees.  We were doing better than we had in a loooong time.

Now? A weirdo game to the Jets and a fluke to the Browns and its "welp, all done."

This team still has plenty of go left in them. Giving up now is nuts.

True enough...academically, at least.  From a fan and emotional perspective it's a bit of an eye-roller since after the Baltimore game the Bengals were put on a veritable pedestal by fans and the media and they followed it up by making a backup QB look like a HOFer in his first start and then losing at home to a Browns team that was in the news all week for being a mess.

The doubters hadn't even digested all the crow we made them eat before we dropped 2 games to underdogs in a row to limp into the bye.  Oof.