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You get it at this point. The Bengals are 0-7, and they are going to be ranked as one of the bottom three teams. What bad things are the rankers saying about Cincinnati this week?
Andy Dalton needs a fresh start. For years, Dalton was a steady option at quarterback, a man who straddled the line between true franchise passer and hold-the-fort journeyman. But as the Bengals’ talent level has dissipated around him, Dalton has crumbled. Sunday was a low point: Dalton threw three interceptions in a 27-17 loss to the Jaguars, with all three picks coming over a span of five passes in the fourth quarter. The Bengals actually entered the final quarter with a one-point lead, but Dalton’s struggles in and around the red zone (an ongoing theme this season) crushed any chance of securing victory No. 1 for Zac Taylor. Given the right surroundings, you could see Dalton (still just 31 years old) having productive seasons in the NFL. But he is no longer the answer in Cincinnati, where he was drafted in the second round in 2011, and where a complete rebuild is necessary. It is time for an amicable divorce.
Recalibrated expectation: Get the top pick. Any hopes of a playoff push in coach Zac Taylor’s first year disappeared weeks ago. At 0-7, the Bengals appear to be a lock for a top-five pick and could be in contention for the top spot. The Week 16 game against Miami, the other winless team in the league, could be for the No. 1 pick.
This is a bad team that doesn’t have much help in terms of talent. The injuries have crippled them. Why not trade A.J. Green?
With A.J. Green now in his walk year, why wouldn’t Cincinnati try to move its most marketable asset in what’s already a lost season?
Yahoo Sports: 31 (Last week 31)
I’d be shocked if Andy Dalton is back for another season in Cincinnati. And I’m starting to wonder if rookie coach Zac Taylor will be either. He was a dubious hire and there aren’t any signs of progress.
Washington Post: 31 (Last week 31)
Start planning now. The Bengals-Dolphins game Dec. 22 in Miami could be so terrible that it would be fantastic.
Bleacher Report: 31 (Last week 31)
The Cincinnati Bengals are making a pretty good case for consideration. Sunday in the Queen City, they did something even the Dolphins haven’t—lost their seventh game of the season. It’s not just that the Bengals are bad. It’s that every week they figure out a way to be worse than before.
Seems like the Bengals trading A.J. Green is a pretty popular take in this week’s rankings. I still don’t personally see it. Green has shown no sign of wanting out, and the Bengals haven’t been shopping him. It seems both sides are confident he has a chunk of his career left to go, and a rookie quarterback could really use a player like Green to help him along. This isn’t to say I don’t get why people are banging down the door to try and get Cincinnati to trade Green, but it seems more realistic that Green ends his career in stripes.
As far as all the other bad things people said, how can you argue with it? The Bengals look like a team made up of people who are just learning what football is going against veteran players each week.
Have you watched a game of NFL football that doesn’t involve the Bengals? It looks like a different sport.
At the end of the day the players deserve some blame and they have plenty of injuries, but somehow this coaching staff is making a bad team from 2018 look worse.
As for who the Bengals play next, the Rams failed to crack the top 10 in any ranking. The highest they were was 11, so they’re not exactly the juggernaut we thought the Bengals would face in London coming into the season.