NFL Power Rankings: Bengals Stock Continues Sliding Near Top-Ten Status

Slowly.

The Cincinnati Bengals are slowly improving their position on mainstream media NFL power rankings with ESPN's 18th being the worst and Pro Football Talk ranking the Bengals highest at 12th. Though NFL.com ranked the Bengals 13th, NFL Network's Joe Theismann, perhaps the smartest man employed by The Network (tongue in cheek?), has Cincinnati ranked eighth, just one spot behind the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Bengals have four wins in six games this year, with three wins with a score differential of ten points. And of the four teams that the Bengals have beaten this year, the Buffalo Bills remain the only team with a winning record. Beating Tennessee and Pittsburgh, two of the next three games that the Bengals play, will significantly improve the team's power rankings, as well as the national perception. Ironically, that perception is something that's increasingly growing with Cincinnati's reported trade with Oakland for Carson Palmer on Tuesday, acquiring a first rounder in 2012 and a conditional first rounder in 2013 (if the Raiders win a playoff game). Not that we need to find a reason to point that out in every post.