Community Round Table: Part 5 - Where do we go from here

5. What's the floor for this team this season and what is the ceiling?

Mexal

The floor in my mind is the playoffs. The ceiling is the AFC Championship. I don't think we're good enough offensively to keep up with the Broncos even if I believe our defense can hold its own. I think it's pretty much a lock we make the playoffs even if we don't find offensive consistency. There is too much talent on this team and a severe lack of great AFC teams to challenge us.

I love that Mexal says the floor is the playoffs. How far have the Bengals come that as fans we consider it a foregone conclusion that we should be in the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row?

SCbengalsfan

I'm not sure of how to answer what the floor is.... I still believe the ceiling is a Super Bowl win, from what we've seen so far this season that's unlikely, but you never know....

Don't lose the faith, there are all different kinds of teams that make runs in the post season. How often has a 6 seed gone on to win the whole thing?

West TX Bengal Fan

The floor would be to lose the rest of the games, and that could easily happen. Despite Dalton's uneven performance, we're really screwed without him. If he were to be injured and we had to rely on Josh Johnson the rest of the season, we'd be lucky to win 3-4 more games. If we were also to lose a guy like Burfict, Maualuga, or Reggie Nelson, we'd be in a whole lot of trouble at LB and Safety. Or the loss of Geno Atkins would also be irreparable. So think if we lost two of those guys. The season would essentially be over.

The ceiling, as I noted before, is probably one playoff win. We already have shown that we can beat the Pats although beating them in Foxboro with all their guys healthy would be a different chore. I think Indy is going to be back on top in the AFC South, and we'd play them close. Denver would be tough to beat because we couldn't stop Manning and we couldn't match him. We might not even be able to beat KC in a Wild Card game the way they are playing under Andy Reid. And Houston or Baltimore in a Wild Card game would both give us a tough time. So winning one playoff game would be tough. Winning a second one (assuming that we don't have a first week bye) would push us. But unless things change dramatically with respect to personnel over in Denver, I don't see anyone beating the Broncos this season in Denver in January (even if the name is Flacco).

I agree with the Denver comments. Right now they are playing the best football in the league. The Bengals winning a playoff game would be a huge step in the right direction for this team. But, it is not going to be easy to consistently make the playoffs. One of these times you want the Bengals to make some noise when they are there. The talent on this team could be just the group to do it.

palewook

For starters, the ceiling to me begins and ends with dominating the divisional opponents. Bengals dropped one to the Browns already, would mean the best I can hope for is a 5-1 AFC North record in 2013. I'll hope the Bengals finish the season 14-2, Mike Brown still owes the long time fans something special for surviving the lost decade. Being realistic, the Bengals floor is all about their defense. This team will go as far as their defense can carry them. As long as the injury bug stays away, the Bengals are a 2013 playoff team.

14 - 2 would be incredible. Also, sweeping the rest of the division games would be enough to wipe the sour taste from the Browns out of our mouths.

Mismanagement

Floor is 7-9, ceiling is 11-5.

Simply stated. I think the ceiling may be higher and I wonder what teams you think the Bengals still have no shot of beating on the rest of the schedule?

Thanks to Mismanagement, palewook, West TX Bengal Fan, Mexal and SCBengalsFan for taking the time to answer the questions. We will be doing this several times this season so leave a comment or drop me a line if you want to be involved in the next round.