Last month during our November 8 Power Rankings recap, the Cincinnati Bengals were firmly within the top-10 on every power rankings we monitor, save for Brian Billick, whose 13th ranking hasn't changed much since (in fact he improved Cincinnati's position after their first loss to the Steelers).

Cincinnati has lost four of their last five games, all against playoff-bound teams, dropping their overall ranking to within the middle of the pack, which would seem to hint with their obvious .500 ranking. And to be honest, it's a fair ranking. This team hasn't been able to beat teams better than them and inferior teams haven't been able to beat the Bengals. It's a simple arrangement. So we have to assume that somewhere in the middle is where the Bengals deserve to reside.