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The power rankings shouldn’t surprise anyone this week. At this point we are just waiting for teams like Washington or the Dolphins to pass up the Bengals. Cincinnati’s schedule gets pretty rough before their bye in Week 9, so unless they can surprise a team it is more of a matter of when than if they reach new lows.
Washington Post: 30 (Last week 30)
It’s going to be a long, long season if you can’t win at home against the Cardinals. But that already had become clear about the Bengals in a rocky rookie season as an NFL head coach for Zac Taylor.
Those who drafted Mixon early expected him to live up to his early-round projections. However, after five games, Mixon has no rushing touchdowns and is 24th in total rushing yards. But his latest outings suggest he could be finding his form on a bad offense. He has averaged at least 4 yards per carry for three straight weeks.
It’s been a bad start for Zac Taylor. You have to wonder if they will start trading away assets for the future.
Yahoo Sports: 29 (Last week 29)
Watching the Bengals’ offense do absolutely nothing for three quarters against a bad Cardinals defense gives me no hope this is going to get better anytime soon.
Speaking of running the ball, Cincinnati really doesn’t ... and hasn’t had a rush go for more than 18 yards this season.
Bleacher Report: 30 (Last week 30)
For the second time at home this year, the Bengals coughed up over 500 yards of total offense in a loss. In Week 5, it was against a winless Arizona Cardinals team that had scored over 20 points one time in four games. With trips to Baltimore and Los Angeles and a home date with the Jacksonville Jaguars next up, it’s entirely possible the Bengals will be staring at an 0-8 record when they hit the bye week.
There isn’t much to say in defense of the Bengals’ ranking. They are 0-5 and just lost to one of the worst teams in the NFL, and they were a very late comeback attempt from it not even being close.
There are positives still on this team, but no one should be fooled into thinking there will be a miracle turnaround that results in the Bengals even coming close to tasting the playoffs. Cincinnati’s front office wanted to prove they constructed a winner, and that the only thing holding them back was Marvin Lewis.
Hopefully, this tremendous failure has them looking in the mirror when they go into the offseason.