Post BYE - Where do we stand?

[Whacked]

Wildcard spot will be tough.

Given the Awuzie and Chase injuries, the 2nd half is too steep a challenge IMO.

It just doesn’t feel like our season.

Even EVAN is shanking stuff, including extra points

Loved the convincing win today; fun to watch - but these other teams are not the Panthers. Not even close.

[Luvnit2]

(11-06-2022, 06:28 PM)pally Wrote: Hopefully for the Tennessee game that would be 3 games and 4 weeks after the injury

Chase was hurt in week 7. He missed week 8, missed week 9, week 10 is a bye, so he may be back Steeler week ( 4 weeks after injury).

Otherwise, they should have put him on 4 week IR.

[sandwedge]

(11-06-2022, 07:28 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Going into TEN, you're likely (hopefully) looking at 6-4.

Right now, Bengals are sitting just outside the playoffs. 
Jets, Dolphins, and Chargers are in the wildcard spots.
Chargers are half a game ahead of the Bengals.
Patriots are tied with the Bengals right now.

Bengals are very likely going to have to get to 9 wins to make the playoffs, but they might not make it with that record depending on tiebreakers.
10 wins is probably the safe goal to get in.

With all that said and assuming Bengals get a win vs PIT (not guaranteed), Bengals will need to get (at least) 3 wins against the following remaining teams:
TEN (currently 5-2)
KC (currently 5-2)
BUF (currently 6-2)
CLE (already lost to them once, haven't beaten them since 2019)
BAL (already lost to them once, currently 5-3)
TB (currently 3-5 but arguably not as bad their record indicates)
NE (currently 5-4, made playoffs last year)

The teams the Bengals might be most likely to beat are NE and TB out of that group, but that'd still only put them at 8 wins.
They'll need to find (at least) one more win against TEN, KC, BUF, CLE, and BAL.
I can't see how the Bengals would be favored in any of those matchups given the current landscape.

I would say Bills and Chiefs put me in doubt of a win. The rest are very beatable! 

[*Go Cards*]

(11-06-2022, 06:12 PM)QueenCity Wrote: Unfortunately all the teams we needed to lose won today... Jets, Dolphins, Chargers and Patriots

Going to need to get hot out of the bye..

That 0-2 start really shining it's light.

yep should be 7-2 

but this team can do it for sure, hopefully Reader and Hilton will be ready after the Bye week

[*michaelsean*]

The Bengals have faced some of the worst QBs in the league, but the defense did pretty well against them for the most part. It was the offense that didn’t take advantage. The Bengals can beat the Ravens if their offense is functioning decently. Same with Tenn. Bills and Chiefs will be tough. I think they have to got 5-3 for a real chance.

[CincinnatiKid]

That xmas eve game vs the Patriots could be huge if we need tie breakers over the patriots jets and dolphins

[THE PISTONS]

Bills losing to Jets is interesting. We could beat Bills or Chiefs. Not highly likely, but maybe.

[*Go Cards*]

(11-06-2022, 07:28 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Going into TEN, you're likely (hopefully) looking at 6-4.

Right now, Bengals are sitting just outside the playoffs. 
Jets, Dolphins, and Chargers are in the wildcard spots.
Chargers are half a game ahead of the Bengals.
Patriots are tied with the Bengals right now.

Bengals are very likely going to have to get to 9 wins to make the playoffs, but they might not make it with that record depending on tiebreakers.
10 wins is probably the safe goal to get in.

With all that said and assuming Bengals get a win vs PIT (not guaranteed), Bengals will need to get (at least) 3 wins against the following remaining teams:
TEN (currently 5-2)
KC (currently 5-2)
BUF (currently 6-2)
CLE (already lost to them once, haven't beaten them since 2019)
BAL (already lost to them once, currently 5-3)
TB (currently 3-5 but arguably not as bad their record indicates)
NE (currently 5-4, made playoffs last year)

The teams the Bengals might be most likely to beat are NE and TB out of that group, but that'd still only put them at 8 wins.
They'll need to find (at least) one more win against TEN, KC, BUF, CLE, and BAL.
I can't see how the Bengals would be favored in any of those matchups given the current landscape.

If the Bengals beat their nemesis the steelers then I don't see them going 2-5 the remainder of the way and missing out. Although it may take 10 wins yet still like their chances if beating steelers. 

If the Bengals did not give away the first 2 games they would be 7-2 with the best record listed. Obviously they did not and have played up and down. Yet with the exception of the Browns have played well lately.

 3 out of the last 4 games the offense has been hitting on all cylinders, 400 yds against the Saints, 537 against Falcons, and 464 yards against the Panthers and eased up somewhat in 2 of these games even.

Bengals beat the Jets and Dolphins while still struggling and should have beaten the Cowboys despite playing horrendous as well 

The Bengals can play with anybody when they show up and hopefully the Bye week affords them to get much healthier. Unfortunately dropping the first 2 games puts them on a short leash with not much room for error though. 

It's paramount to come out of the Bye and beat the steelers to get the ball rolling again going into that stretch run though and like their chances if doing so. 

[QueenCity]

Can never count out Brady....

[*bfine32*]

If I'm being pessimistic: We go 5-2 after the break. I will say if we don't pick up a CB during the break I'll be disappointed.

[*michaelsean*]

(11-06-2022, 09:34 PM)bfine32 Wrote: If I'm being pessimistic: We go 5-2 after the break. I will say if we don't pick up a CB during the break I'll be disappointed.

That would be a pretty strong shot to make the playoffs.

Can’t imagine there are any good or even decent CBs better than our guys to be had.

[guyofthetiger]

Well, the Rams lost again today. The Bengals are looking better than the SB champs from last year. If we play like today, we could win out the season. However, we have been up and down this year.

[Bengalholic]

The Bengals are still very much alive in terms of a playoff spot. Assuming the Bills, Chiefs and Titans, all win their divisions...which they should, here's a look at the schedules for the Ravens (who have a very favorable schedule) and the wild card competition:

Ravens (5-3) --- @ Saints, H Panthers, @ Jaguars, H Broncos, @ Steelers, @ Browns, H Falcons, H Steelers, @ Bengals

Jets (6-3) --- @ Patriots, @ Bears, @ Vikings, H Bills, H Lions H Jaguars, @ Seahawks, @ Dolphins                                 
Dolphins (6-3) --- H Browns, H Texans, @ 49ers, @ Chargers, @ Bills, H Packers, @ Patriots, H Jets                              
Chargers (5-3) --- @ 49ers, H Chiefs, @ Cardinals, @ Raiders, H Dolphins, H Titans, @ Colts, H Rams, @ Broncos            
Patriots (5-4) --- H Jets, @ Vikings, H Bills, @ Cardinals, @ Raiders, H Bengals, H Dolphins, @ Bills                                  
Bengals (5-4) --- @ Steelers, @ Titans, H Chiefs, H Browns, @ Bucs, @ Patriots, H Bills, H Ravens                                 

[WeezyBengal]

The things working in our favor is the tie breakers over Miami and NYJ and the fact that the Dolphins, Pats, and Jets all play each other again.

[WeezyBengal]

Also, the Bengals got absolutely ****** with the scheduling this year. How many more road primetime games can we have? They are such a nightmare.

[Bengalion]

(11-06-2022, 11:05 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Also, the Bengals got absolutely ****** with the scheduling this year. How many more road primetime games can we have? They are such a nightmare.

Next game is gonna be against the Steelers in Pitt. 

[QueenCity]

I'm starting to believe the Bengals can take 1 of the Bills/KC game @ Home. Will be tough but I know a lot of Bengals fans are counting those games as losses.

[Bengalholic]

A fun site to mess around with. Used it a lot last year.

[*bfine32*]

(11-06-2022, 11:09 PM)Bengalion Wrote: Next game is gonna be against the Steelers in Pitt. 

That game is gonna get flexed. Dallas plays Minnesota in the 4PM block that week. 

[CJD]

I think 6-4 is very reasonable. 7-4 may be difficult, but it is doable especially if our running game continues working. The odds of us beating KC 3 times in a row are pretty slim, so I would expect us to be 7-5 at best after that game. I want to believe we can beat the Browns even with Watson but, as I've said before, I'll never predict a Browns win until they actually do it (I think the Browns are just the Bengals Achilles' Heel at this point) so that puts us at 7-6. I think wins against the Bucs, who look awful, and the Pats, who are dominant on defense but struggle on offense, are very reasonably, so we should be able to get to 9-6. We finish up with the Bills and Ravens. I think we are capable of beating the Bills and since I predict we'll lose to the Browns and the Chiefs, I can predict a win there as my buffer choice, and I expect we'll beat the Ravens.

So I think 11-6 is a very reasonable ending record for us, which should secure a wild card spot at a minimum. And then, once you're in the playoffs, anyone can get hot and win it all. I think this team is good enough to run the table, assuming we don't have multiple implosions similar to the Monday night game a week ago.

But you gotta play the games. Anything from 13-4 to 5-13 is technically possible, after all :)