(10-30-2018, 08:33 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: It may take 10, or even 11 wins to get a WC spot.  The NFL is in a position that Free Agency and the Salary Cap was supposed to avoid, both of the Conferences being top loaded.  But, you never know when the injury bug is going to take down a team that once looked like it was on a roll.

That's probably because market size does not determine team success. Top management by owners is what really makes a franchise a winning franchise and that's what the top loaded teams have and the bottom feeders don't, and no amount of money can buy a good owner.

Week 10 New Orleans - Loss
Week 11 @ Baltimore - Loss
Week 12 Cleveland - Win
Week 13 Denver - Win
Week 14 @ Chargers - Loss
Week 15 Oakland - Win
Week 16 @ Cleveland - Win
Week 17 @ Steelers - Loss

9-7... and miss the playoffs

I'm an optimist so I don't think this season is as bad as some.

We will be playing the Saints in our house. A very winnable game. Will we win? We'll find out. I do predict a win though.

Saints... W 6-3

We have done well against the Ravens, who in turn do well against the Steelers, who seem to always beat us.

Ravens... W 7-3

Cleveland just fired both their HC and OC, rookie QB and will have a few weeks to sort out some things, but I don't see them winning.

Browns... W 8-3

Denver traded one of their WRs to the Texans, plus we get them in the Jungle as well.

Broncos... W 9-3

LA is a very difficult team to beat this year, we also have to travel out west. We COULD win, but not likely. We'll find out.

Chargers... L 9-4

LV has looked abysmal this year. Plus we are at home.

Raiders... W 10-4

Same thing I said above, only this time in Cleveland and a little bit more time for them to work out some kinks, won't be a gimme but.

Browns... W 11-4

Pittsburgh always seems to have our number, but we have played them close. We also have more success against them in Pittsburgh so I think we get the W. PS, I will always pick the Bengals to beat the them no matter what.

Steelers... 12-4

Now another thing to look at is our Divisional opponents schedule. Notably Pittsburgh, they have @ Ravens, Panthers, @Jaguars, @ Broncos, Chargers @ Raiders. They could actually lose 5 of their next 6. If the travel hurts them then it could even be 6 of 6. The Ravens have the Falcons, Chargers and the Chiefs left to play that could also lead to them losing those games as well.

So we may not even need to have a great record to win the division, just a winning record will do. If the Steelers do drop 5 games, then their record will be 4-7-1, if they drop all six then 4-8-1. Oh, did I mention they also will have to play the Saints in NO and NE? It is actually possible for them to not win another game all season long, highly unlikely, but not impossible either. Even if they do win against the Raiders and even us, they would still have their hands full with their schedule and have a 6-9-1 record.

The Ravens on the other hand would be the team that will give us a run for the division, at 4-4, if they lose to the Falcons, Chargers and Chiefs they will have a 9-7 record (assuming they also beat us). So our 11-5 record or even 10-6 record would be enough to secure the division. I do think we lose the tie breaker to them if we both finish 9-7, but if we beat them, then we have the tie breaker.

A 5 & 3 first half of the season.  What will the last 8 games win/loss record be ? - POLL.
 
 
Remaining eight games:
 
Saints at home
 
at Ravens
 
Browns at home
 
Broncos at home
 
at Chargers
 
Raiders at home
 
at Browns
 
at Steelers
 
 
(No ties are assumed in the Poll.  If you foresee a Tie then call your shot in a Post)

(11-01-2018, 12:43 PM)depthchart Wrote: A 5 & 3 first half of the season.  What will the last 8 games win/loss record be ? - POLL.
 
 
Remaining eight games:
 
Saints at home
 
at Ravens
 
Browns at home
 
Broncos at home
 
at Chargers
 
Raiders at home
 
at Browns
 
at Steelers
 
 
(No ties are assumed in the Poll.  If you foresee a Tie then call your shot in a Post)

Going with 5-3 again bringing Bengals to a 10-6 record and infuriating fans for some reason who call for heads to roll immediately.  

(11-01-2018, 12:48 PM)Go Cards Wrote: Going with 5-3 again bringing Bengals to a 10-6 record and infuriating fans for some reason who call for heads to roll immediately.  

I got the Poll up now, so you can Vote that if you want.

I hope you are right because 4 and 4 may not get us in the Playoffs.

Our offense is ranked 23rd and our defense is dead last.  We could go 0-8.

But I predict 5-3 (losses to Saints, Chargers, Steelers)

BTW glad this is an open poll. I think they all should be.

I believe 3-5 to be likely with this D and the O that struggles in the 2nd half of games. But I voted 4-4 trying to have some hope.

Would really be sweet if I'm wrong and we go 5-3 or 6-2 .

I think the Defense will get better, has to.

6-2, losses to the Saints and Chargers.

(11-01-2018, 12:52 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Our offense is ranked 23rd and our defense is dead last.  We could go 0-8.

But I predict 5-3 (losses to Saints, Chargers, Steelers)

My concern is that we Split with the Browns.

Lay an egg say at Cleveland.

That would be hard to take if it barely kept us out of the Playoffs.

(10-31-2018, 11:06 PM)YsCascadia Wrote: I'm an optimist so I don't think this season is as bad as some.

We will be playing the Saints in our house.  A very winnable game.  Will we win?  We'll find out.  I do predict a win though.

Saints... W  6-3

We have done well against the Ravens, who in turn do well against the Steelers, who seem to always beat us.

Ravens... W 7-3

Cleveland just fired both their HC and OC, rookie QB and will have a few weeks to sort out some things, but I don't see them winning.

Browns... W 8-3

Denver traded one of their WRs to the Texans, plus we get them in the Jungle as well.  

Broncos... W 9-3

LA is a very difficult team to beat this year, we also have to travel out west.  We COULD win, but not likely.  We'll find out.

Chargers... L 9-4

LV has looked abysmal this year.  Plus we are at home.

Raiders... W 10-4

Same thing I said above, only this time in Cleveland and a little bit more time for them to work out some kinks, won't be a gimme but.

Browns... W 11-4

Pittsburgh always seems to have our number, but we have played them close.  We also have more success against them in Pittsburgh so I think we get the W.  PS, I will always pick the Bengals to beat the them no matter what.

Steelers... 12-4

Now another thing to look at is our Divisional opponents schedule.  Notably Pittsburgh, they have @ Ravens, Panthers, @Jaguars, @ Broncos, Chargers @ Raiders.  They could actually lose 5 of their next 6.  If the travel hurts them then it could even be 6 of 6.  The Ravens have the Falcons, Chargers and the Chiefs left to play that could also lead to them losing those games as well.

So we may not even need to have a great record to win the division, just a winning record will do.  If the Steelers do drop 5 games, then their record will be 4-7-1, if they drop all six then 4-8-1.  Oh, did I mention they also will have to play the Saints in NO and NE?  It is actually possible for them to not win another game all season long, highly unlikely, but not impossible either.  Even if they do win against the Raiders and even us, they would still have their hands full with their schedule and have a 6-9-1 record.

The Ravens on the other hand would be the team that will give us a run for the division, at 4-4, if they lose to the Falcons, Chargers and Chiefs they will have a 9-7 record (assuming they also beat us).  So our 11-5 record or even 10-6 record would be enough to secure the division.  I do think we lose the tie breaker to them if we both finish 9-7, but if we beat them, then we have the tie breaker.

Nicely thought out post, i agree for the most part i just am not liking our DC right now.

He is making me take back my 11-5 prediction. He doesn't even recognize it has been the Offense that has bailed
his Defense out. We need to get better on D, i think if we do we will go either 11-5 or like you said 12 -4, if not we
might be able to sneak into the Playoffs.

I just don't see us winning once we get there with Marv, Austin and Haslett coaching. These guys are blah.

Wins- split with the browns and beat the Raiders. 


Losses- Everything else

(11-01-2018, 12:57 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: I think the Defense will get better, has to.

6-2, losses to the Saints and Chargers.

I say 6-2, too, but with losses to the Saints and Steelers.

I said 5-3 but 6-2 is not out of the realm. I actually think we can beat the Saints at home and knock off the Stealers in their shack.

(11-01-2018, 02:44 PM)sandwedge Wrote: I said 5-3 but 6-2 is not out of the realm. I actually think we can beat the Saints at home and knock off the Stealers in their shack.

If we weren't coming off a bye week, I could see the defense surprisng everyone and slowing the Saints offense. But, under Merv, we play sluggish after the bye and against a team like the Saints, that spells doom.

Im going to say 4-4 because this coaching staff never learns a lesson, and they get motivated after losses and pull out a win. I think we barely beat out the ravens for a final playoff spot. The ravens arent that good to me.

Hopefully we play better the 2nd half of the season. 5-3 for a playoff birth [emoji4]

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

(11-01-2018, 01:22 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Nicely thought out post, i agree for the most part i just am not liking our DC right now.

He is making me take back my 11-5 prediction. He doesn't even recognize it has been the Offense that has bailed
his Defense out. We need to get better on D, i think if we do we will go either 11-5 or like you said 12 -4, if not we
might be able to sneak into the Playoffs.

I just don't see us winning once we get there with Marv, Austin and Haslett coaching. These guys are blah.

Oh I agree...  I want us to fire Austin so bad it isn't even funny.

The defense doesn't look bad, they look lost and confused, which is even worse.  The emphasis on TOs is relying on the opponent to make mistakes, not actually stopping them, we had Chuck B. for doing that before getting Zimmer.  The really bad part is that we are terrible at actually getting TOs.  With the amount of attempts that our defenders have done trying to cause a fumble or INT, we haven't produced as much as it seems.  Even when we do cause a fumble we have had a few that we didn't recover, that sounds like nitpicking, but if that is the goal and focus of the defense then we need to recover those fumbles.  The Pittsburgh game stands out as we could have prevented the FG if we recover that fumble.

I don't hate Marv, but as you said, these guys are blah.  I mean our record should be 6-2 right now.  No shame is losing to KC or Carolina, but the Steelers is the game that is the one that stands out as being a testament to the ineptitude of Lewis.  His handling of the last 2 mins were atrocious.  We didn't try to milk the clock at all during that time, it was as if Marv was a first time spectator, all excited about scoring that he forgot that we have to give them the ball back.  With 2 time outs and already past the 50, plus having 4 chances to get a 1st down, we shouldn't have worried about scoring or even taking a TO until about 30s was left on the clock.

As someone that is just a rabid fan of the Bengals and not a professional coach, for me to be able to see plainly that we scored to quickly, makes me wonder if those claims of the NFL being rigged might have some truth to them.  If not, then Marvin is really out of his depth.

Why in theee hell do people think the Bengals are going to lose to the Browns?

Bengals should win at least 10 this year.