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The Bengals have had two of the weirdest games of any team through the first two weeks of the NFL season.
They went into Seattle and nearly beat Russell Wilson and the Seahawks, showing huge improvements on both sides of the ball. A week later, they look like the 6-10 Bengals from the 2018 season and lost 41-17 at home to the 49ers.
There was so much optimism after Week 1 and now it seems fans are ready to throw in the towel on the season. Everyone is wondering what Zac Taylor will do to turn around this slow start to the season. Despite the worry from fans, Taylor says, “It’s Week 3. This is not a time to panic,”
The team will travel to Buffalo to take on the the 2-0 Bills next Sunday, needing improvement in their thus far lackluster run-game to get a win. 2018 AFC leading rusher Joe Mixon has rushed for a combined 27 yards this season, and is well aware of what needs to get better.
To all my fans and Cincinnati fans I’m sorry for the performance that I displayed for the past two weeks. I promise I will get it right and we will be better! #WhoDey
— MoneyMakingMix (@Joe_MainMixon) September 15, 2019
Fans can only hope that he’ll follow up on his promise as the team’s schedule doesn’t get any easier. Just look at where the division is now. Despite Ben Roethlisberger being declared out for the season due to an elbow injury, the Week 4 Monday Night Football match up in Pittsburgh will still prove to be a tough task.
The Baltimore Ravens are also looking like Super Bowl contenders through the first two weeks, with quarterback Lamar Jackson leading them to a 59-10 win during week one and a clutch win in a hard-fought battle against the Cardinals this past Sunday.
When it comes to the Browns, they lost by 30 at home to the Tennessee Titans in week one but have plenty of star power to make sure that doesn’t happen again. They proved that on Monday night against the Jets.
With the AFC North being as talented and competitive as it is, the Bengals will have their hands full when they have to face their division foes each twice.
Other than the AFC North teams, the Bengals schedule does consist of six teams that didn’t make the playoffs in 2018, which could bode well for them.
There is still a lot of football to be played and it is possible that the Bengals could replicate a Houston Texans 2018 season where they started off slow at 0-3, but then won 11 of the last 13 games. It seems like a huge task for that to happen but it will be needed if this teams wants to make a playoff run.