When the Bengals lost their preseason finale to the Colts and finished 2-2, I began to feel like that was an all-too-familiar record for the club. I didn't have any stats to back up my assertion at the time, but I just always felt that the team didn't do well in the preseason. Well, now I have the stats.

Not only does the club have an overall losing record in the preseason (94-102-2), but my assertion seems correct. Dating back to 1978 when teams moved to the four-game (or five, if you were playing in the HOF game) preseason schedule, the Bengals have finished with a 2-2 record 17 times in those 34 years. Five of those 17 have come in the Marvin Lewis era, and only twice did the team make the postseason after that 2-2 record (1981, 2009). They finished worse than 2-2 thirteen other times. Only twice did the team have a losing record and made the playoffs (1990 and 2011).

So, in summation, the team finished 2-2 or worse in the preseason in 30 of the last 34 years. What's been the track record in that amount of time? No playoff wins for 22 years, no back-to-back winning seasons in 30 years and period of 12 years of absolutely terrible football (1991-2002).

So, how do you feel about the preseason and its effect on the Bengals? Is this data meaningless? Or do you think that there is some validity to that fact that a mediocre or poor showing in the preseason translates to regular season issues? Discuss.