Here's a holiday edition of an Open Thread for you to sound off. With the big game against the Arizona Cardinals this weekend, you can talk about your strange Bengals gameday traditions and superstitions--you all know that you have some. Talk about the Bengals Christmas gifts you want and/or bought for others. Talk about the game or the holiday plans you have.

Just talk. Oh, and Merry Christmas from us here at Cincy Jungle to all of you.

The first three keys to a Bengals victory, highlighted in an earlier post, were to stop Steven Jackson, Pressure Kellen Clemens and to protect Andy Dalton.

Here are the final two keys to a Bengals victory in St. Louis on Sunday against the Rams in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.

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After losing to the Texans, and more importantly losing four of the last five games, the Cincinnati Bengals playoff hopes are hanging by a thread. If they lose one more game in the next three weeks, their season will end after Week 17. If they can win out, though, they have a chance at extending their season into the playoffs.

Their season-ending playoff push begins on Sunday in St. Louis. Here are five keys to a Bengals victory over the Rams, numbers five through three.

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Even though the Bengals have lost four of the last five games, including a one-point heartbreaker against the Texans in which they allowed T.J. Yates to make their defense look foolish in the final minutes, NFL analysts from every sports media outlet have picked the Bengals to be victorious in Week 15.

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According to Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley is lobbying hard to return for this weekend's pivotal AFC North game with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Following a hamstring injury against the New England Patriots, the expectation was that Woodley would sit for two games (Ravens and Bengals) and return after next week's bye.

The last time the Steelers played the Bengals, Woodley posted an interception return for a touchdown and two quarterback sacks.

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5. Continuing Successful Third Down Conversions... Cincinnati's two-game losing streak earlier this season was in large part due to Cincinnati's inability to convert third downs. Against the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers, the Bengals converted only two of 21 third down opportunities.

During their four-game winning streak that could be extended this weekend, the Bengals have converted 43.4% of their third downs, sustaining drives that's putting them in a position to average 28.5 points during their winning streak.

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The Cincinnati Bengals came into Sunday's game, gearing up to face one of, if not the best pass rushing duos in the game today. Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney have a combined 176 career quarterback sacks. Freeney alone was 1.5 sacks short of reaching 100 for his career coming into the game. Andre Smith had his work cut out for him against Robert Mathis; a game that many pointed anticipated to see if he had really grown into that first round pick we expected him to be. When the game was over, neither defensive end had even an assisted tackle (much less a quarterback sack) and only one Colts defensive player (Jamaal Anderson) even hit Dalton during the course of the game, who wasn't sacked the entire afternoon. Freeney never showed up on the NFL.com Gamebook sheet, whereas Mathis had a pass defensed and an offsides that was declined.

It was impressive how the Bengals, using a combination of trust with the tackles, quick passes and screen plays, were able to neutralize Freeney and Mathis. And everyone, from offensive coordinator Jay Gruden to the offensive tackles Andrew Whitworth and Andre Smith, deserve recognition for that.

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There's always a storyline to every game, every week and this week provides a sequel to a disastrous end with a 35-point swing that went from a Bengals 17-point lead at half time only to lose by 18 points. And those stories started early. The Bengals kicked off the season playing the Battle of Ohio (at least the NFL iteration of it), beating the Cleveland Browns 27-17 thanks to a 41-yard A.J. Green touchdown reception and a 39-yard Cedric Benson touchdown run to win the game.

A week later the Bengals were granted an opportunity to deal with Denver's insolence after scoring an unlikely Brandon Stokley touchdown late in the game, beating the Bengals during the 2009 season opener 12-7. Cincinnati fell short by two points and a controversial decision to go for it on fourth down during the week two rematch, rather than attempting a 50-plus yard field goal late in the fourth quarter that would have given the Bengals a one-point lead. And of course the San Francisco 49ers sport one of the more bitter hatreds in Bengals fans and old time Bengals players for their role in beating Cincinnati during their only Super Bowl participations. Cincinnati's offense struggled while the defense, gallant in their efforts to stall the 49ers offense, failed to prevent a fourth quarter touchdown and losing 13-8.

Much like their loss against the Denver Broncos in 2009, which was a shocking turn of events, the Bengals will have an opportunity to respond to Buffalo's five second half touchdowns on November 21, 2010 that put an end to a slow death.

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