First two wins looking legit...

[skyline]

Ok, so Cleveland took care of Green Bay and played a tough game today against Indy.

The Vikings played well against New Orleans, and Culpepper got 3 TDs and 0 INTs.

Those first two wins are looking more impressive...nobody can say now that this team isn't for real.

[Kazkal]

Well bearss have a very stout defense too though they lack offense,I was wtf'd by browns keeping manning in check

[AMC]

Just proves the point that you cannot judge a schedule by what teams did the year before. This Bengals schedule may go from "preseason easy" to a hard schedule after all is said and done....

[HoosierCat]

The Bengals have won some good games.

They have not played perfectly in their wins...but few teams do.

And the bottom line is that NFL teams are comprised -- even the worst of them -- of the best football players college ball can turn out.

Let the pundits say what they will, but when all is said and done the fact remains that this is a damn good team.

That said...3-0 ain't playoffs yet. Good job this week, fellas. Now -- LET'S GET HOUSTON!!!

[kingwilly]

So far, each game has been a solid win. Cleveland is making the most out of their short time in new systems. Minny will probably rebound, they have too much talent to languish too long. Chicago has a very tight D and if Orton can get a little confidence, Mohammed and Clayton are decent WR and Jones has plenty of gas. These are by no means cake teams or cake games, to Joisey's point. These are professional NFL teams.

These games have been consistently solid front to back, no let up, closing them out nicely in every phase of the game. The staff should get BIG credit for the coaching, conditioning and stamina this team now has. They now "finish" games.

Now, get through the penalties and this team is a Striped Juggernaught!

Almost 70% of teams going 3-0 make the post-season...GO BENGALS!

[BengalszoneBilly]

Well bearss have a very stout defense too though they lack offense,I was wtf'd by browns keeping manning in check

I wasn't. Mannings day has come and gone. The age of Palmer is now dawning upon the NFL. Break out the mega-SPF tanning lotion boys because...

"The future's so bright, we gotta wear shades!"

[Columbusbengal]

This Bengals schedule may go from "preseason easy" to a hard schedule after all is said and done....

Actually, I do think the Bengals' schedule is easy (except for the two Pitts, KC, and Indy games). The season has gotten even easier with Buffalo playing a rookie QB and Baltimore still having no QB and their pro-bowlers getting older each year. This easier schedule (compared to last year) is one reason why we all predicted the Bengals would go to the playoffs this year. A lot of national prognosticators were ignoring the schedule when predicting the Bengals would only be 8-8 or 9-7 this year.

I must admit to being shocked that Indy has looked bad offensively and good defensively every week so far. This is the strangest flip/flop I've ever seen in any NFL team from one season to the next.

[redsfan2]

The Bengals have won some good games.

They have not played perfectly in their wins...but few teams do.

And the bottom line is that NFL teams are comprised -- even the worst of them -- of the best football players college ball can turn out.

Let the pundits say what they will, but when all is said and done the fact remains that this is a damn good team.

That said...3-0 ain't playoffs yet. Good job this week, fellas. Now -- LET'S GET HOUSTON!!!

Browns tried new coaches and players ............. Vikes tried new free agents on defense ............ Bears showed up with the #7 overall ranked defense.

Next time bring Kryptonite !

[semiotter]

Ok, so Cleveland took care of Green Bay and played a tough game today against Indy.

The Vikings played well against New Orleans, and Culpepper got 3 TDs and 0 INTs.

Those first two wins are looking more impressive...nobody can say now that this team isn't for real.

10-4 brother 10 freaking 4.............

[Stripes]

No matter how you slice it, the win in Chicago was solid. Add that to the list.

3-0 everyone.

Three wins.

ZERO losses.

Can ya feel me?

[membengal]

Lonnie Wheeler of the Post all over this point...really, it's past time for people and especially Bengals fans to poor mouth what they have accomplished through three weeks:

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...260339/1035/SPT

The article:

CHICAGO - At this rate, the Bengals will never play a good team. That's their plan, anyway.

For three weeks now, every club they've come across has looked like one we will remember. The Browns, it appeared, were punchless. The Vikings were a wreck. The Bears had a colorblind quarterback.

But the facts keep interfering with this cynical theme. Sunday, Cleveland played Indianapolis - a Super Bowl favorite - to within a touchdown on the road. Minnesota won handily. The Chicago team that Cincinnati soundly defeated had prevailed last week by the largest margin in the league.

At some point, reluctant as we've all become over the years in matters Bengal, it will be time to stop hedging about this Cincinnati team and acknowledge that there must be something else going on here - something fairly serious. The time might be now.

Exhibit C would be the 24-7 victory over the Bears. On paper, and to the naked eye, it wasn't the Bengals' best performance. Rudi Johnson couldn't run the ball. Chad Johnson had only one catch in the first three quarters. Kyle Larson kept punting.

But wait a minute. They won by 17 points in a famously difficult place to play. They had another touchdown nullified on a debatable penalty. They ran out the last 1:50 at the Chicago 3-yard line.

In the rain. In the wind.

In the third victory of an increasingly perfect season.

What they did, essentially, was play precisely the kind of game they had to play to win at Soldier Field, with heavy clouds settling over the Sears Tower in the background. Like a thick-crust pizza, they did it Chicago-style. Under rugged, big-shouldered circumstances, they just had to grin and Bears it.

"I told Carson (Palmer) last night that we're going to have to play field position because of the weather, because of the wind, and see what happens," said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. "That's the way it played out, so I'm pleased with that. We took care of the football again."

For all the fancy passing Palmer has lately produced - his streak of 100-plus ratings has now reached six - it has been a while since he went a whole game without an interception; seven, to be precise. Sunday was only the second time in his career that he has gone pick-less.

Now, consider the contrast. Kyle Orton of the Bears was intercepted five times Sunday by five different Bengals. He's a rookie, of course. But what about Daunte Culpepper of Minnesota, who was intercepted five times by the Bengals last week and is decidedly not a rookie?

Maybe it's not the quarterbacks. Maybe it's the Bengals.

I mean, it's been 35 years since a team intercepted five passes in consecutive games. The Bengals also came up with two of them the first week. There might be a pattern here.

"We had one tip today," said Lewis, "but the other ones were coming to guys in coverage. The guys were on top of their routes and did a nice job of running the cuts with the receivers. Our guys can cover."

Palmer can attest to that. He has to throw against them in practice.

"They're the best secondary we've faced so far," he said. "They make it easy for us offensively. They give us great field position. They've been the reason we're 3-0."

Well, not completely. Palmer and his ball-movers have been doing a lot of this and that with the field position, piling up the league's largest point differential. Their lead-taking has done as much for the Cincinnati defense as the defense has done for the Cincinnati offense. It's how first place works.

First place is what happens when a team creates 16 turnovers in the first three games and commits only four. It's what shows up when a team doesn't consider that to be luck, but instead comes to expect it.

"No matter what coverage we're in, we've got guys who can make plays," said linebacker Brian Simmons, whose interception on Chicago's first play was probably the most important of the inclement afternoon. "Once one comes, the other guys start to feed off it."

"I tell you what," added defensive tackle Bryan Robinson, a former Bear, "those guys (in the Bengals' secondary) get to the football. It makes the guys up front feel like we're doing something worthwhile. We didn't get any sacks today, but I'd rather take the interception over the sack any day."

Cornerback Deltha O'Neal, who was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week last week after intercepting Culpepper three times, had another Sunday. So did his counterpart, Tory James, whom Cincinnati sent to the Pro Bowl last year. Those two, catching balls like Ken Griffey Jr., clearly lead the pick parade.

"Guys are doing a good job of preparing, studying the opponents, and then going out there and making plays on the football," said defensive backs coach Kevin Coyle. "We talk a lot about when you do get the ball in your hands, making the interception and not leaving it out there on the field. We have good athletes back there, and they've been able to catch the ball."

"Hands down," said O'Neal more succinctly, "I feel like we've got to be the best secondary out there."

If that has indeed occurred, it has done so with a starting safety, Kim Herring, out for the season. Kevin Kaesviharn has taken over admirably. Keiwan Ratliff has rapidly developed into a ball-seeking nickel back. And a case could be made that Madieu Williams has become as valuable as anyone on the Bengals' defense. He also had an interception Sunday, and led the team in tackles. Lewis actually made a point of praising his team's tackling, which, though he's loath to single out players, reflected favorably on the second-year safety from Maryland.

The coach, of course, would only reflect favorably on the collective effort. "When you play defense with 11 guys," he said, " . . . you're happy."

And 3-0.

And leading the division.

"Like they say," chirped O'Neal, "how 'bout dem Bengals?"

The best part from that article:

"At some point, reluctant as we've all become over the years in matters Bengal, it will be time to stop hedging about this Cincinnati team and acknowledge that there must be something else going on here - something fairly serious. The time might be now."

Great point from Wheeler. Cleveland has been tough as nails since the Bengals took it to them up in Cleveland. Minny rips NO in half as Culpepper goes off. Chicago one week ago ripped the Lions to shreds and generated a ton of national buzz heading into the game with the Bengals.

Each time, the Bengals have taken their opponent apart. Past years we would yearn for an easy win...in many respects, we have had three such easy wins this year. Really, the early season script in a perfect world looks almost exactly like it is playing out right now.

Damn but it feels good to be a Bengals fan this morning.