I absolutely hated yesterday's blowout loss. I a starting to dislike Mayfield as much as I despise Fat Jen. Uncharacteristic game from Chase and Burrow. That said, let's put this season so far in a little perspective. Many people had the Bengals going 4-6 wins tops at the beginning of this season. Yet here we are at the bye, 9 games into the season and we already are sitting on 5 wins, with 8 games left to play. As for the rest of the division, both Cleveland and Baltimore were touted as legit Super Bowl contenders this year coming into the season. And as much as we covet Pissburgh's decline, everyone always says "can't count Pissburgh out", right?

So here we are with the AFCN all knotted up.
Ravens 6-2
Browns 5-4
Bengals 5-4
Pissburgh 4-3 (play the Bears tonight)

At the very worst we split with the Ravens and the Stealers. If they can pull things together and snatch a win at the dog pound we will split with Cleveland. (nobody thought we'd beat the Ravens at M&T)

So looking ahead... these are the Schedules.

Bengals                             
Bye  
@Raiders                                                           
Steelers                                                                 
Chargers                                                            
49ers                                                            
@Denver                                                         
Ravens                                                             
Chiefs                                                           
@Browns                                                         
                                                                         
 Ravens                                                                                           
@Dolphins
@Bears
Browns
@Steelers
@Browns
Packers
@Bengals
Rams
Steelers

Browns
@Patriots
Lions
@Ravens
Bye
Ravens
Raiders
@Packers
@Stealers
Bengals

Stealers
Bears
Lions
@Chargers
@Bengals
Ravens
@Vikings
Titans
@Chiefs
Browns
@Ravens


Looking at the Division, the Bengals have 3 road games left, Ravens have 5, Browns have 4 and the Stealers have 5. After next Sunday the Bengals, Ravens and Stealers have already had their Bye week. I don't see any games the Bengals play that scream blatant loss or win. I can possibly see the Browns losing 6 or 7 more and can see the Stealers possibly losing 6-7 more. Unfortunately, I think the Ravens take the Division, but the Wild Card is all knotted up. If the Bengals can get out their funk, they are still right in the thick of things.

I disagree. I don’t see any of the game the Bengals playing as probable wins. Lol

Every D has figured out how to shut our O down.

Every O has figured out how to exploit our D.

We may win 2-3 more …. MAX.

Even 8-9 best case ain’t gonna cut it.

I usually don't let a couple losses get me too down and try not over react but these last 2 in a row are making it really tough.

Having said that I'll now proceed to overact, don't take it personally OP.

Who gives a crap about the other teams schedules at this point. The Bengals will either figure out how to start winning again or they wont. It really doesn't matter who everyone else plays. If they don't start winning games I honestly don't care who the Browns play or where they play. Smae with all the other teams in the division. It doesn't matter.

Think about it. Let's say the Raven are going to win the division hypothetically. Okay so you're implying the Bengal's will be competing against the rest of a log jammed division for a wildcard position?

What about all the other teams? Why not post their schedules and we can start doing a playoff calculator now? Chargers, Raiders, KC and Broncos all have 5 wins. Only 1 can win that division, that other 3 are in the same boat as the Steelers, Browns and Bengals. The Patriots have quietly worked their way into the conversation and the Colts aren't far away.

The point is the Bengals aren't competing with 2 other teams for a WC. It's 8 not including the division winners.

Maybe Im missing your point but Im pretty frustrated with this team right now. I didn't dream they be in this postion at this point of the season and if you'd told me they'd be in the thick of the playoff chase after 9 games I would have been happy. I think the high of where we were post Ravens win was such that the last 2 weeks have really knocked the wind out of a lot of us and it's hard to believe they can get back to where they were or even be competitive for that matter.

Maybe I'll come back around but ehh, I don't feel great about this team right now.

(11-08-2021, 11:48 AM)Sled21 Wrote: I absolutely hated yesterday's blowout loss. I a starting to dislike Mayfield as much as I despise Fat Jen. Uncharacteristic game from Chase and Burrow. That said, let's put this season so far in a little perspective. Many people had the Bengals going 4-6 wins tops at the beginning of this season. Yet here we are at the bye, 9 games into the season and we already are sitting on 5 wins, with 8 games left to play. As for the rest of the division, both Cleveland and Baltimore were touted as legit Super Bowl contenders this year coming into the season. And as much as we covet Pissburgh's decline, everyone always says "can't count Pissburgh out", right?

So here we are with the AFCN all knotted up.
Ravens 6-2
Browns 5-4
Bengals 5-4
Pissburgh 4-3 (play the Bears tonight)

At the very worst we split with the Ravens and the Stealers. If they can pull things together and snatch a win at the dog pound we will split with Cleveland. (nobody thought we'd beat the Ravens at M&T)

So looking ahead... these are the Schedules.

Bengals                             
Bye  
@Raiders                                                           
Steelers                                                                 
Chargers                                                            
49ers                                                            
@Denver                                                         
Ravens                                                             
Chiefs                                                           
@Browns                                                         
                                                                         
 Ravens                                                                                           
@Dolphins
@Bears
Browns
@Steelers
@Browns
Packers
@Bengals
Rams
Steelers

Browns
@Patriots
Lions
@Ravens
Bye
Ravens
Raiders
@Packers
@Stealers
Bengals

Stealers
Bears
Lions
@Chargers
@Bengals
Ravens
@Vikings
Titans
@Chiefs
Browns
@Ravens


Looking at the Division, the Bengals have 3 road games left, Ravens have 5, Browns have 4 and the Stealers have 5. After next Sunday the Bengals, Ravens and Stealers have already had their Bye week. I don't see any games the Bengals play that scream blatant loss or win. I can possibly see the Browns losing 6 or 7 more and can see the Stealers possibly losing 6-7 more. Unfortunately, I think the Ravens take the Division, but the Wild Card is all knotted up. If the Bengals can get out their funk, they are still right in the thick of things.

Sled, I respect your posts as I see you as very knowledgeable about this team. 

I do have to disagree on the Browns losing 6 or 7 more.  If they play like the way they ***** slapped the Bengals yesterday I can see them winning 6 or 7 games in the 2nd half of the season.  

Everyone keeps saying in our losses but this is the best DL we've played.  The Raiders have a great DL, so do 5 or 6 other teams on the 2nd half of our schedule.  Goal #1 during this bye week better be how to shore up the holes in that offensive line. 

Goal #2 should be how to shore up the wholes in that swish cheese defense.  You have $200M invested in that side of the ball, so the talents there.  Now you have to rely on Lou to fix whatever's messed up.  

(11-08-2021, 12:55 PM)Whacked Wrote: I disagree. I don’t see any of the game the Bengals playing as probable wins. Lol

Every D has figured out how to shut our O down.

Every O has figured out how to exploit our D.

We may win 2-3 more …. MAX.

Even 8-9 best case ain’t gonna cut it.

They have one week where they score 17 points with a TON of turnovers and "Every D has figured out how to shut our O down"?  

They just came off games where they scored over 30 in consecutive road games.  

It was a horrible loss.  Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.  HOWEVER, it was one game.  They got out of it relatively healthy.  They are still right in the thick of things.  Yes, the defense has looked awful for two straight games.  They will figure it out.  

As far as winning 2-3 more games, that may be right, but there is NO ONE on their schedule that is just demolishing teams.  This was a bad matchup against a desperate team and, as I said earlier, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  It won't be that every week.  I bet they come back with a big road win against the Raiders and we are all very excited about the team again.  

(11-08-2021, 01:37 PM)SHRacerX Wrote: They have one week where they score 17 points with a TON of turnovers and "Every D has figured out how to shut our O down"?  

They just came off games where they scored over 30 in consecutive road games.  

It was a horrible loss.  Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.  HOWEVER, it was one game.  They got out of it relatively healthy.  They are still right in the thick of things.  Yes, the defense has looked awful for two straight games.  They will figure it out.  

As far as winning 2-3 more games, that may be right, but there is NO ONE on their schedule that is just demolishing teams.  This was a bad matchup against a desperate team and, as I said earlier, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  It won't be that every week.  I bet they come back with a big road win against the Raiders and we are all very excited about the team again.  

Why was Cleveland more desperate then us though?

(11-08-2021, 01:41 PM)jason Wrote: Why was Cleveland more desperate then us though?

4-4 vs 5-3

plus the browns were coming off a home loss against an inferior division rival

(11-08-2021, 01:28 PM)TJ528 Wrote: Sled, I respect your posts as I see you as very knowledgeable about this team. 

I do have to disagree on the Browns losing 6 or 7 more.  If they play like the way they ***** slapped the Bengals yesterday I can see them winning 6 or 7 games in the 2nd half of the season.  

Everyone keeps saying in our losses but this is the best DL we've played.  The Raiders have a great DL, so do 5 or 6 other teams on the 2nd half of our schedule.  Goal #1 during this bye week better be how to shore up the holes in that offensive line. 

Goal #2 should be how to shore up the wholes in that swish cheese defense.  You have $200M invested in that side of the ball, so the talents there.  Now you have to rely on Lou to fix whatever's messed up.  

Yes, they looked like world beaters yesterday.  True, some of that was on us, but still, sheesh.

Let's see how they look in Vegas.  If they can win there and get to 6-4, then come home with some momentum to face Pittsburgh, then they have a fighting chance for a WC spot. If, however, they get soundly beaten out there, and having now lost three in a row, have to come home to face a rejuvenated Steelers team, then we could be seeing a team in free-fall.  

They're on the edge but they haven't yet fallen off.  

(11-08-2021, 01:41 PM)jason Wrote: Why was Cleveland more desperate then us though?

If they lost they would have been under 500 and 0-2 in the division. Plus the whole Beckham situation!

(11-08-2021, 01:49 PM)J24 Wrote: If they lost they would have been under 500 and 0-2 in the division. Plus the whole Beckham situation!

If only his dad had waited until early Sunday morning to post that video....

On paper, the Browns are the most complete and the best team in the division. It was just a matter of time before they hit their stride and starting winning some games. There is way too much talent on that team for them to be a 6-11 or 7-10 team. They have a top 5 D-line and a top 5 O-line. Games are won and lost in the trenches and that will be apparant at the end of the year. It's hard to believe that they were 4-4 coming into this game.

(11-08-2021, 01:42 PM)Awful Llama Wrote: Yes, they looked like world beaters yesterday.  True, some of that was on us, but still, sheesh.

Let's see how they look in Vegas.  If they can win there and get to 6-4, then come home with some momentum to face Pittsburgh, then they have a fighting chance for a WC spot. If, however, they get soundly beaten out there, and having now lost three in a row, have to come home to face a rejuvenated Steelers team, then we could be seeing a team in free-fall.  

They're on the edge but they haven't yet fallen off.  

No I completely agree with you.  There's a lot of season left.  The next 2 weeks, the bye and the Raiders will tell you a lot about this team. 

If they come out flat against the Raiders like they did against the Browns, they'll once again get their ass handed to them.  

I've seen 0 fight from this defense over the last 2 weeks.  Its' almost after they beat Baltimore they thought they won the division and they're already in the playoffs.  

(11-08-2021, 01:49 PM)J24 Wrote: If they lost they would have been under 500 and 0-2 in the division. Plus the whole Beckham situation!

See i call BS on this one though.  When Cincy left NYC last week, they were angry they came out and played flat against the Jets. 

If you're angry you came out flat, then you should've laid an egg against your next competition like they did.  

To me this is on the coaching staff not having the team prepared to play. 

I think every team in this division will end up with 8+ wins.
I think BAL wins the division.

(11-08-2021, 01:49 PM)J24 Wrote: If they lost they would have been under 500 and 0-2 in the division. Plus the whole Beckham situation!

I understand all that. What I don't understand is someone just throwing it out there that they played with more urgency than we did, and just chalking that up to a little perspective. We're not good enough (if we're any good at all) to get away with playing like we have house money.

(11-08-2021, 02:07 PM)jason Wrote: I understand all that. What I don't understand is someone just throwing it out there that they played with more urgency than we did, and just chalking that up to a little perspective. We're not good enough (if we're any good at all) to get away with playing like we have house money.

Especially after laying an egg in NYC the week before. 

Can’t say this about the jets loss… but the Browns did come into the season as AFCC contenders and potential Super Bowl representatives for the AFC. They have a good team. Their defense is top notch when it’s healthy. Their offense can be deadly if you can’t stop their ground game…. Point is, we lost to a really good team… Ravens got stomped by us, and look, they’re fine.

Bengals need to take this bye week and then come back focused. Anything can happen in this division, no point in giving up quite yet.

(11-08-2021, 02:13 PM)TJ528 Wrote: Especially after laying an egg in NYC the week before. 

That made yesterday all the more infuriating....

(11-08-2021, 02:14 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: Can’t say this about the jets loss… but the Browns did come into the season as AFCC contenders and potential Super Bowl representatives for the AFC. They have a good team. Their defense is top notch when it’s healthy. Their offense can be deadly if you can’t stop their ground game…. Point is, we lost to a really good team… Ravens got stomped by us, and look, they’re fine.

Bengals need to take this bye week and then come back focused. Anything can happen in this division, no point in giving up quite yet.

I'd fell better if they didn't lose back to back games in the same manner... Getting ran the hell over.

(11-08-2021, 01:58 PM)TJ528 Wrote: No I completely agree with you.  There's a lot of season left.  The next 2 weeks, the bye and the Raiders will tell you a lot about this team. 

If they come out flat against the Raiders like they did against the Browns, they'll once again get their ass handed to them.  

I've seen 0 fight from this defense over the last 2 weeks.  Its' almost after they beat Baltimore they thought they won the division and they're already in the playoffs.  

Does anyone know the Bengals record the game after the bye week under MB?