Oakland Raiders: Taking A Closer Look At The AFC Playoff Picture

Cincinnati Bengals (4-6)

Remaining Schedule: Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bears, @Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions, @Baltimore Ravens

The Bengals have had an up and down year. More down, than up, unfortunately for them. And this might be the year their down season gets HC Marvin Lewis pink-slipped.

Cincinnati’s offense is ranked dead last in yards and is twenty-ninth in points allowed. Their defense is better and is what’s keeping them in games this season, ranking twelfth in yards allowed and tenth in points against.

But, an ineffective running game – dead last in the league – and a passing game that’s not much better (twenty-ninth) have combined to make the Bengals a toothless tiger. On the year, they’re scoring about 17 points a game and averaging just about 265 yards of total offense per game.

Their four wins have come against teams (Cleveland, Indianapolis, Buffalo, and Denver) with a combined record of 11-29.

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The good news for the Bengals is that they get to play a couple more games against teams with losing records (Cleveland and Chicago). The bad news is, their other four opponents don’t have losing records. Although, we’re predicting that somehow, some way, they rise up to beat the .500 Ravens in the final week.

The other side of that coin though, is that they’ll very likely get handled by other playoff contending teams.

Cincinnati will very likely finish below .500 once again – the third straight season for Lewis.

Predicted Finish: 7-9