05-14-2022, 12:31 PM
I saw a comment about how last year the Bengals played the most games in the league against teams with losing records (10). The argument was that they made the playoffs because of their soft schedule.
I looked it up and it is correct that the Bengals and the Packers played 10 of their 17 games against losing teams and that was the highest in the league. But right behind them was the Rams at 9. But here is an even bigger detail that was not mentioned. The Bengals actually played like crap against weak teams. They were only 6-4. The only 3 teams in the league that lost more than 4 games to losing teams were the 3 worst teams in the league (Lions, Jags, and Giants). I realize one of our losses was the "exhibition game" against the Browns in week 18, but we also had to come from behind in the 4th quarter to win on a last second FG against the Jags. Meanwhile the Rams were 9-0 against losing teams.
So, on one hand I was glad to be able to show that the Bengals did not "luck into" the playoffs because of a weak schedule. But on the other hand this opened my eyes to an issue we need to address. If we are going to move from "good" to "great" we have to stop coming out flat against inferior teams. Instead of just making the playoffs we need to be thinking "home field advantage". We can't take any games off just because we think we are the better team.
I looked it up and it is correct that the Bengals and the Packers played 10 of their 17 games against losing teams and that was the highest in the league. But right behind them was the Rams at 9. But here is an even bigger detail that was not mentioned. The Bengals actually played like crap against weak teams. They were only 6-4. The only 3 teams in the league that lost more than 4 games to losing teams were the 3 worst teams in the league (Lions, Jags, and Giants). I realize one of our losses was the "exhibition game" against the Browns in week 18, but we also had to come from behind in the 4th quarter to win on a last second FG against the Jags. Meanwhile the Rams were 9-0 against losing teams.
So, on one hand I was glad to be able to show that the Bengals did not "luck into" the playoffs because of a weak schedule. But on the other hand this opened my eyes to an issue we need to address. If we are going to move from "good" to "great" we have to stop coming out flat against inferior teams. Instead of just making the playoffs we need to be thinking "home field advantage". We can't take any games off just because we think we are the better team.
