Riding a high after defeating a tough team in an awesome atmosphere, the Bengal’s overwhelming offense smothers the Raiders, making them one-dimensional. Suddenly the Bengals have a winning record and the national media remembers they exist.
The Ravens look like legit contenders right now, and the Bengals have yet put a complete game together where they looked like the team we hoped they could before the season started. They missed their shot at splitting with the Ravens when they lost in OT in Week 5.
The Bengals haven’t played many games, in the Joe Burrow era, at least, in the Pacific Time Zone. They’re 2-1 when they’re playing three hours behind, their only loss coming to…..
The Rams in their home stadium in the Super Bowl.
Now they take on Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers in the same stadium. The Chargers are among the NFL’s swollen midsection. When they’re good, they’re just that…. good. They do not seem likely to clinch their division, although they may be in the running for a wildcard berth.
This is the time of year when we will start gauging the chances of Bengals to be able to clinch the AFC North title. I’m assuming about the slowness of the start returns back to the curse of the problems about winning the championship of the division (unless, of course, Lamar Jackson does not get injured), but they are still in the game for a wildcard spot. They throw away an mvp-effort from their franchise quarterback, an opportunity to maximize the last season where chase and higgins are together, and they bring in a reset before the year 2025.