Today is the second day of our three part series on the AFC North, where we evaluate each team and review their strengths and weaknesses, along with predicting how they will do in the 2017 season. Today we are taking an in-depth look at the Cincinnati Bengals, a team that has been a thorn in the side of Baltimore in recent years. The Bengals were founded in 1967, by Paul Brown. The Bengals have been a mediocre team throughout their time in the NFL. They have also never won a Super Bowl, despite appearing in two, one in 1981, and one in 1988. The team has found recent success under head coach Marvin Lewis, who also served as the Ravens’ defensive coordinator from 1996 to 2001. The Bengals have gone to the playoffs seven times since Lewis took over in 2003, however, he has never been able to win a single playoff game. Last season was the first season since 2011 that the Bengals did not return to the playoffs.
Last Season
Last season was a very uncharacteristic season for the recently successful Cincinnati Bengals. The team finished third place in the division at 6-9-1. The team that had always been in the mix for winning the division and going to the playoffs seemingly fell off of a cliff in 2016. Quarterback Andy Dalton failed to perform at the level that he is typically accustomed to playing at, and the offense as a whole suffered. This was partly the fault of the poor performance by the offensive line. Dalton was sacked 41 times last season, second-most of any quarterback in the NFL. The defensive unit for the Bengals also had its own issues. It was not as good as prior seasons and failed to be as efficient, especially in stuffing out the running game. The Bengals failed to achieve their ultimate goal of making the playoffs, leaving fans disgruntled, and putting head coach Marvin Lewis on the hot seat.
Major Offseason Departures
Released: LB Rey Maualuga, WR James Wright
Left via Free Agency: LT Andrew Whitworth, RG Kevin Zeitler, DT Domata Peko, LB Karlos Dansby
Major Offseason Additions
Signed: OT Andre Smith, LB Kevin Minter
Drafted: WR John Ross, RB Joe Mixon
Strengths
The Bengals have a few key strengths that will help them in the 2016 season. One of their strong points is the quarterback spot. As much as I can’t bring myself to like Andy Dalton, I can at least acknowledge he is a decent quarterback. He’s far from great, but he can get the job done for the Bengals when they need it. They also have a good receiver corps, spearheaded by AJ Green. The duo of Dalton and Green has been one of the most deadly quarterback-receiver partnerships. The Bengals offense also have another effective one-two punch you, in Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard. The two running backs have been able to provide stability to the Bengals offense. When the passing attack is dying down, the running game picks up the slack. Although neither Hill nor Bernard is an elite running back alone, they both together provide a strong performance for the Bengals offense. The Bengals also have a generally strong defense. Although the defense has declined, and will probably stay at its declined state, it is still a good defense by NFL standards. Their defensive line is able to give quarterbacks a hard time. Players like Carlos Dunlap and Geno Atkins are able to make plays wrapping up quarterbacks and other ball carriers on the offense. The Bengals also have a good secondary, led by Dre Kirkpatrick and Adam “Pacman” Jones. The secondary is very much capable of keeping opposing passing attacks at bay. The defense, however, is not perfect and has some issues that will need to be addressed.
Weaknesses
Despite the Bengals having some very good parts of their team, they have some glaring issues that will hurt them. First, their linebacker group, in general, has seemingly fallen off of a cliff. Besides Vontaze Burfict, they really have no other quality linebackers. They released Rey Maualuga earlier on in the offseason, a key defender for the team. Now without him, Burfict is left alone to attempt to carry the team’s linebackers. The linebackers corps already deteriorated last season, and now it’s even worse. The defense is going to have a hard time stopping the run again this season, along with short passes. This will be a big weakness in the Bengals defense and could lead to more problems for them. If short passes become a problem for the Bengals, the secondary will need to come up and protect against it, opening up vulnerability to deep passes. Another major problem for the Bengals is their offensive line. The Bengals last season already had a lackluster offensive line, allowing Andy Dalton to be the second most sacked quarterback in the league. To compound this issue, they lost linemen, Andrew Whitworth, and Kevin Zeitler. They did bring in tackle Andre Smith, who was with the team before leaving for the Vikings in 2016. However, at 30 years old, and coming off an injury, he won’t be able to have a massive impact on the offensive line. The line is going to be an issue for this Bengals squad and could stunt the growth and explosion of the offensive unit as a whole.
Predictions and Playoff Chances
The Bengals are seemingly heading down a path of mediocrity. They have pressing issues that are going to hinder the team, however, they have some facets of the team that should be able to allow them to compete with their opponents. The worst case scenario for this team is a 7-9 record, while the best case scenario for this team is a 9-7 record. The Bengals will miss the playoffs either way. In both of these scenarios, the Bengals will basically be the same team. A team that has strong areas that allow them to make plays and keep games close, but also has very weak areas that overshadow the good. These weak spots, like the offensive line and the linebackers group, will hinder the team altogether, and hurt the performance of other teammates and players. Andy Dalton won’t have enough time to find AJ Green and his other receivers for explosive plays, and the running backs won’t have enough room to gain any large amount of yards. The linebackers group will be weak, and the secondary will need to come in to assist them, opening up the middle and deep parts of the field for easy passes. Overall, this team will likely find themselves finishing in 3rd place again, likely with an 8-8 record.
