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The Bengals find new and exciting ways to lose to bad teams - Tampa Bay 24, Cincinnati 21

This worked really well for much of the game. But then, Carson Palmer decided to throw interceptions because it's more exciting to lose the game that way than it is to punt or something.  (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
This worked really well for much of the game. But then, Carson Palmer decided to throw interceptions because it's more exciting to lose the game that way than it is to punt or something. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
Getty Images

Carson Palmer threw three interceptions. Cedric Benson ran for well over 100 yards. Tampa Bay turned the ball over 3 times. Which correlated most strongly with a win today? Apparently Palmer's interceptions, which lead to 17 Tampa Bay points off of turnover, including a pick-6 and the decisive field goal that ended the game and the Bengals' hopes of getting out of the only easy part of their schedule with a winning record.

Today's game marked consecutive losses to two of the worst teams in the league. The vaunted defense couldn't hold up when it counted. Palmer was remarkably un-clutch. The weapons committed interference and deflected a ball into the oppositions' hands. The Bengals have lost to two teams in a row that they have to have believed they could beat. 

There's no good excuse. The Bengals just aren't a good football team, as things appear. They can't put teams away. They give games away like they're candy on Halloween. Importantly, they committed an immense amount of damning penalties in this game. 

It's really not fun anymore, boys. This team does absolutely nothing well - and this is against bad teams. 8-8 would be pretty lucky.