I gotta see how FA (haha.. yeah right), scheduling, and the draft play out. I think they could be back to winning regular season games, with great draft and maybe a B free agent...

10-6

You know they own Aaron Rogers right?... Bengals are in his head... Own him.

(01-09-2017, 11:05 PM)BengalChris Wrote: You know it's really hard to say 5-11 or 11-5 or 8-8 when there are so many variables that can come in and unanswered questions.

Who will we re-sign in the off season? Whit? Kirkpatrick? Zeitler? Will we fix the OL? Who do we draft and will they be healthy by the time the season starts?

So, I'm going to play it safe and say 7-9 and Marv departs on a losing note.

That's basically where I came up with my 8-8.  I have to 'assume' that there are no pleasant surprises that would be uncharacteristic of this franchise. I'm also assuming key injuries, and not counting on Eifert to play the whole season.

It depends on how the Bengals gel next year.  Three predictions:
1.  OL still sucks, usual injuries and defense not dominant:  6-10
2.  Steady season, but still lose big games: 9-7 (50/50 to make playoffs and lose if they do)
3.  Address OL, WRs mature, Glassfert does not get injured, DL back to elite form, LB upgrade, DBs well above average: 11-5, win first playoff game

*drops mike*

(01-09-2017, 03:59 PM)bengalguy71 Wrote: Okay, the Bengals aren't in the playoffs and I have some time on my hands.

Based upon what we KNOW from this franchise, and what we can REALISTICALLY EXPECT, make your predictions now and see how close they turn out.  No guts, no glory!

2017

Home
Baltimore -W
Cleveland - W
Pittsburgh - L
Houston - W
Indianapolis - L
Chicago - W
Detroit - L
Buffalo - W

Away
Baltimore - L  (Split again)
Cleveland - L  (Due for a split since they swept last year in Hue's first year)
Pittsburgh - L
Jacksonville - W
Tennessee -L
Green Bay - L
Minnesota - W
Denver - W  (Due for an away win and they will have new HC and system)

8-8 Miss playoffs again.

My prediction is almost all the changes needed will not be made.

Have they ever beat the Texans? That's probably a guaranteed L.

(01-10-2017, 04:48 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Have they ever beat the Texans?  That's probably a guaranteed L.

I believe they have beaten them once without Watt.  For whatever reason, and I don't know why, they refuse to send more than one blocker at Watt on any given play.  I guess having him take over the game is better than assigning two guys to block him(kind of like every team in the league does to Atkins).

I think it could be another middle of the road season. The offensive line is probably going to lose at least one of it's two best players. That's bad. They probably won't sign any outside help of note, either.

I do, however think that there is a bright spot. With 11 picks in the 2017 draft, next season will be a year of acclimation and growth to a bumper crop of new players. By 2018, we should see part B of the Dalton-Green era start to blossom. Hopefully the team makes some good choices in the upcoming draft, because they are in a position to set themselves up well.

(01-10-2017, 05:03 AM)Bilbo Saggins Wrote: I believe they have beaten them once without Watt.  For whatever reason, and I don't know why, they refuse to send more than one blocker at Watt on any given play.  I guess having him take over the game is better than assigning two guys to block him(kind of like every team in the league does to Atkins).

They beat them in 2014 with Watt. They shut him down too.

The jury is still out as to whether the Bengals will be a similar team, or execute better and shore up some of their weak spots in 2017. I could see either of these two scenarios:

Scenario 1: the 2016 and 2017 Bengals will perform similarly (7-8 wins with this 2017 schedule)
Scenario 2: the 2017 Bengals will improve via regression to the mean and perform more consistently (9-11 wins with this 2017 schedule)

We'll win 100 games and go to the world series and Brian Price swaps places with Marvin. Reds still come in last place.