Who still has faith?

[NYBengalfan]

We have to look at it as One game seasons take it one game at a time.

But we have to beat the Saints.

[Tasher]

Numb. I am just numb.

I started to go numb with the go-ahead TD and I went numb utterly and completely numb when they put the 49th point on the board. Still numb today. this will most assuredly test the resolve and cajones of this club to see if they have what it takes over the next 7 games. Win out and we will go to the playoffs one way or another. Win 6 and it will be testy. Win 5 will be a longshot.

Tough lessons in learning how to win.

The best set of circumstances would be for SD to beat Denver twice and then for us to beat Denver, then we would have the head to head tiebreaker and SD would win the West. But WE still have to WIN to take care of business!

[WhiteDawg]

I am so sick of hearing about having faith in this team. Let me make this clear I will always support the Bengals and cheer for them. I will not however have any faith in a defense that makes me sick. They are perhaps the only team in the league that looks like a pro-bowl defense on 1st and 2nd down and then looks like a pop-warner team on third and long. I am actually think about turning the channel on third downs so I don't have to watch that disgusting defense on third downs. Forget faith until we actually make improvements on the D side. Good-bye playoffs hello 3rd place in the AFC North!

[walzav29]

This season is as over as it can be. They are losing the close ones, which is the classic loser line. It's over, but the Bengals have talent, and hopefully they learned that you can't just draft every scumbag on the planet and expect that they will be good boys. Do a little more background checks boy and I can't wait for the draft. Thye most irritating thing will be when they beat the Broncos or Colts and listen to them brag about how great they are even though they'll be 5-11. Yahooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

[Jet23]

I'm still a fan, but this year is done. I am already looking forward to next year. Too many things were working against them this year. Believe it or not, I take solace in the fact that Carson looked like last year's version. And the OL played a damn good game.

I will still enjoy the process, because I believe this team will eventually make it to the Super Bowl, possibly next year. Injuries, schedule and stupid crap doomed them from the start.

[DontPushMe]

We have to look at it as One game seasons take it one game at a time.

But we have to beat the Saints.

No, thats what the team has to do, we as fans can look at the whole schedule, and the way the team has performed, and see that we are probly looking at 7-9 or 8-8 again.

[jjakq27]

The Bengals can redeem themselves over the next four weeks. Games against New Orleans (6-3), Cleveland (3-6), Baltimore (7-2) and Oakland (2-7) are all winable. But they must win all four games. Besides just winning the games, they are important since three of them are within the AFC and two are divisional games.

Being 8-5 as they enter the homestretch against Indy (9-0), Denver (7-2) and Pittsburgh (3-6) is an absolute. Maybe if Indy has it locked up at that point, the Bengals might be able to get a win there. Denver will be tough at home but they may have clinched as well. And who knows if either team will have anything to play for on New Years Eve when the Steelers visit.

So the door is still open with the loses by Jacksonville (5-4) and Kansas City (5-4) yesterday. Obviously we would have to make up a three game lead to catch Baltimore which probably isn't going to happen. But they are due for a spell of bad luck soon.

Yesterday's game is a double loss since we would lose the head-to-head tiebreaker with San Diego (7-2) if we end up tied for a Wild Card spot. The Jets (5-4) winning yesterday didn't help us at all but I wonder when they will come back to reality.

I truly believe that the Bengals are better than the Jets, KC and Jacksonville and have a real shot at that 2nd Wild Card spot if they play better. And since we are talking about the NFL,who knows, 8-8 could still get us in there.

[MacD BengalFan]

Never give up, never surrender. If you do, then all is lost.

[HairOnFire]

I'm torn. Only two weeks ago this team has a chance to play for the lead in the division, and the math says they still have a shot. But my gut says they've blown their last chance to win the division, and I've always believed that was their most likely path to the playoffs.

As for the wildcard, they're chasing three 5-4 teams teams for the last spot, a tough task but not impossible. But again, my gut says that it's beyond what THIS version of the Bengal's are capable of doing. This group seems incapable of playing a complete game, and I'm not even talking about playing well for 60 minutes. I've grown numb from watching the offense play miserably when the defense is playing well followed by the defense playing horribly while the offense suddenly rights itself. And no matter which unit is playing well there always seems to be a critical mistake made by one of the Bengals finest players that dooms their chances. For example, Housh's flat out drop yesterday, the blocking scheme that resulted in Palmer's fumble, or for that matter....Palmer's pass to Glenn Holt.

That said, BA KING barely beat me to the point that this team could very easily win the next four games and improve to 8-5, setting the stage for a final playoff push. In fact, it's more than possible, so there're obviously not dead and buried. And as Bengal fans I'm sure we're all familiar with the dead-cat bounce, right? It's a cherished part of our heritage.

But getting back to that gut thing...you have to wonder how they can recover from yesterdays loss since they were already a fractured finger-pointing group whose maturity and heart were being called into question.

Faith? No, it would be impossible for me to claim that I have faith that this team can right itself quickly enough to earn a playoff berth. At best, all I can do is remind myself that it's possible, and hope that it happens.

But faith and hope are two very different things.

[BengalByTheBay]

My view is simply this -- it's never too late to say the season is over, but it can be too early. In other words, who the hell knows? The day after a jaw-droppingly horrible showing by the defense is probably a bad time to assess it all anyway. Since there's no harm in doing so, I'm gonna wait to call this season over. DPM is right about one thing, it's the team that plays the games, not us. So, if they pull it together enought to string a few wins together then it'll all look different. I'm not stupid enough to claim that's going to happen, but I am interested enough in this team to watch it unfold.

[BengalszoneBilly]

It was good to see the OL play well.....as well as the new silent "let's just get the job done" Chad...

As I did as well. Carson got great protection against one of the leagues best defenses, and it showed in the score. Now if only the defense could muster a good game once in a blue moon...

As far as Chad lack of antics after his TD catches, he impressed me as an adult. Thank God, that bulls**t was getting old fast.

[BengalPimp]

The Bengals can redeem themselves over the next four weeks. Games against New Orleans (6-3), Cleveland (3-6), Baltimore (7-2) and Oakland (2-7) are all winable. But they must win all four games. Besides just winning the games, they are important since three of them are within the AFC and two are divisional games.

Being 8-5 as they enter the homestretch against Indy (9-0), Denver (7-2) and Pittsburgh (3-6) is an absolute. Maybe if Indy has it locked up at that point, the Bengals might be able to get a win there. Denver will be tough at home but they may have clinched as well. And who knows if either team will have anything to play for on New Years Eve when the Steelers visit.

So the door is still open with the loses by Jacksonville (5-4) and Kansas City (5-4) yesterday. Obviously we would have to make up a three game lead to catch Baltimore which probably isn't going to happen. But they are due for a spell of bad luck soon.

Yesterday's game is a double loss since we would lose the head-to-head tiebreaker with San Diego (7-2) if we end up tied for a Wild Card spot. The Jets (5-4) winning yesterday didn't help us at all but I wonder when they will come back to reality.

I truly believe that the Bengals are better than the Jets, KC and Jacksonville and have a real shot at that 2nd Wild Card spot if they play better. And since we are talking about the NFL,who knows, 8-8 could still get us in there.

scroll up towards the top of this page and read my post, KC and Jacksonville both have just as have tough of a schedule the next 7 games as we do(if not tougher) and the Jets will lose this week to Chicago, and honestly who really sees the Jets making the playoffs?

[Stripes]

During the closing moments of Sunday's debacle, my thoughts all pointed towards "season over, that's all she wrote." I'd still say probability is very much against the Bengals, but looking ahead... the schedule doesn't look all that impossible. We're only one game behind the other contenders for WC#2, and we have a solid opportunity to get going the next four games.

As has been said, we have to win them all. I'm not hopeless that it can be done though... We can outscore New Orleans, Cleveland and Oakland suck, and the Baltimore game will be at home (and I'd be surprised if we don't finish in a split with them).

Even if we win all four, though (about as huge an "if" as could be)... we have to take at least one of the Indy/Denver games, and we HAVE to beat the Steelers. That amounts to a 10-6 finish, and we hold the tiebreaker over (whom I feel is) our chief WC rival in Kansas City. It's a big stretch, but I'll keep the faith until the Bengals defense can pry it away from me.