Perspective?

[Whacked]

Fellow miserable Bengals fans ….

I’m consistently guilty of being in the camp of piling on when we lose - driven from disappointment, but some perspective here:

The Bengals lost to:

Pats by 6 pts
*This one is inexcusable !!

Chiefs by 3 points (last minute)
*They are 9-1 and playoff-bound

Washington by 5 points (close game overall)
*They are 7-4 and playoff-bound

Rats by 3 points (last minute)
Rats by 1 points (last minute)
*They are 7-4 and playoff-bound

Eagles by 20 points — this one is inexcusable
*They are 8-2 and playoff-bound

Chargers by 7 points (last minute)
*They are 7-3 and playoff-bound

I know the record tells us - we are exactly what it says we are and we came up short when it mattered. That said, we hung w all of these playoff teams (except for Philly).

All of this said, we have also only beaten garbage teams sooo there’s that too

This team is average at best but a few tweaks and we may be ok next year. Not sure we need a giant overhaul - other than on D - to be competitive.

[CJD]

If we had a semi-functional defense (bottom 10 instead of bottom 5), we'd be 8-3 and headed to the playoffs. And that's with the Patriots game loss in place.

It is what it is. Hopefully, the offense remains this good next season and we fix the defense to be able to do...anything. Anything at all. We'll coast into the playoffs in 2025 if that is the case.

[HarleyDog]

No excuse.

[TecmoBengals]

A lot of NFL teams lose close games. So knowing the Bengals lost close games doesn't do much for me as they sit at 4-7.

[*bengalfan74*]

(5 hours ago)CJD Wrote: If we had a semi-functional defense (bottom 10 instead of bottom 5), we'd be 8-3 and headed to the playoffs. And that's with the Patriots game loss in place.

It is what it is. Hopefully, the offense remains this good next season and we fix the defense to be able to do...anything. Anything at all. We'll coast into the playoffs in 2025 if that is the case.

Bingo

And that's the main reason (sorry you guys hanging on to hope) we ain't winning out. 

[Timanky12]

(5 hours ago)TecmoBengals Wrote: A lot of NFL teams lose close games. So knowing the Bengals lost close games doesn't do much for me as they sit at 4-7.

They lost all the close games. If that doesn’t say something, then nothing does.

[Timanky12]

It’s like the Reds losing a lot of 1 runs game, people say it would average out. It didn’t, because they were not that consistent on offense or pitching.

[jj22]

You aren’t going to win if only 1 out of the 3 phases is playing well. Even if they are playing at an elite level.

You need a top defense and special teams. A top offense and defense, or top offense and st to never leave point on the board in shootouts to win in this league. 

We have 1 unit playing well. Offense. And even at an elite level with elite talent, it isn’t enough to win.

McPherson or the Defense is going to have to get fixed out of the bye. The schedule helps but none of it lends to any belief that all these warts won’t show up wildcard weekend. If we miraculously was able to make it in. In epic form. These core issues can’t really be fixed until the offseason.

[Goalpost]

Joe getting hit at an alarmingly high rate is becoming a real story to be concerned with.

[*Nately120*]

(4 hours ago)Timanky12 Wrote: They lost all the close games. If that doesn’t say something, then nothing does.

That and ZT and Burrow aren't rookies.  Once you have been in the NFL for a while there are no close losses, there are only losses.

[Dr.Z]

(4 hours ago)Goalpost Wrote: Joe getting hit at an alarmingly high rate is becoming a real story to be concerned with.

It is concerning, but it seems like we may have to consider that his play style might come with a high rate of getting hit.  
, 

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

We lost to the Chiefs by 1 point. Eventually we need to start winning these close games.

[*bfine32*]

[Ell Prez]

(5 hours ago)TecmoBengals Wrote: A lot of NFL teams lose close games. So knowing the Bengals lost close games doesn't do much for me as they sit at 4-7.

Exactly. Well said, not much to add! We lost the Super Bowl, but we lost to the Super Bowl champions….