The Big Game Victories Will Come

[walzav29]

2003

Baltimore (loss)

St. Louis (loss)

Cleveland (loss)

2004

Pittsburgh (loss)

New England (loss)

Buffalo (loss)

2005

Pittsburgh (loss)

Colts (loss)

I think this is the final hurdle for the Bengals. Winning the games with everything on the line. That is the only thing they have not improved upon in the Marvin era. I would point to youth, and I know they will get there. They will have a chance against the Steelers, and if they lose that game they will have another big one in the last week @KC. The 1st would win the division, the 2nd would be for the wild card. They have to get these eventually.

[schweinhart]

Those 2003 losses were killers -- 3 of the last 4 games to watch a 7-5 record turn to crud the last quarter of the season.

That's what's biggest for the Bengals right now IMO -- Don't repeat the meltdown of 2003.

Of course they no doubt hear all the talk about them not being good enough to win big games (other than say the Chiefs and Steelers in 2003 and the Donkeys MNF and Ratbirds away last year). But's that's all there and not here now.

Plus the crap they get for this year's sked, although the emergence of the Vikes and Bears is making those early no-contest wins look like bigger games now.

So, yeah, the big wins will come and they know it. They'll draw motivation from it I hope.

But they absolutely can not look past a game with a 3-7 record either, especially when that team is one majorly pi$$ed off Ratbird team just off a huge win for them.

The Bengals still just got to take care of the business at hand, game to game as cliche as it sounds. This they have done the job on this year where they haven't done it in Marvin's first 2 years.

Take care of that biz by continuing to win the games they should win and they should get some help widlcard wise if it comes to that.

Maybe Zona takes the Jags this week and if they do, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Jags lose 3 straight to wind up 7-6.

KC and the Bolts both at 6-4 won't likely both go 10-6.

If the Bengals beat who they should, they go 11-5 and we got us a postseason pretty much no matter what.

[walzav29]

(other than say the Chiefs and Steelers in 2003 and the Donkeys MNF and Ratbirds away last year).

These were sweet, but they were all situations where the Bengals were so far in the hole, that there was no pressure. I'm talking about the must win, control your own destiny games.

[Columbusbengal]

(other than say the Chiefs and Steelers in 2003 and the Donkeys MNF and Ratbirds away last year).

These were sweet, but they were all situations where the Bengals were so far in the hole, that there was no pressure. I'm talking about the must win, control your own destiny games.

You're right - it's the "must win" games that the Bengals haven't learned how to deal with yet. Of course, they haven't experienced these types of games often enough in the past decade to learn how to handle them.

By the way, I'm a little worried about Kyle Boller. It looked like he improved during his absence. Considering Pittsburgh's defense, he didn't do that bad. Hope we don't take him lightly (it's easy to do that with a loser like Boller).

[derekshank]

By the way, I'm a little worried about Kyle Boller. It looked like he improved during his absence. Considering Pittsburgh's defense, he didn't do that bad. Hope we don't take him lightly (it's easy to do that with a loser like Boller).

Boy are we searching for things to worry about or what?

Let's review... Manning beat us badly, yes. He's a whole different animal than any other QB we've faced all year, or will have to face the rest of the year. Boller on the other hand... well, let's just say, Peyton Manning just woke up in a cold sweat because their names were mentioned in the same breath.

[Stripes]

First off, there's no need to worry about Kyle Boller. I'd be more worried about the 2nd half when they insert Wright into the game after Boller's 4th interception.

Secondly, these big games we've been losing the last two seasons have all been to teams that have been favored to beat us. We lost that Pittsburgh game to a team on its way to 15-1. We were an 8-8 caliber team, so I don't see us winning under many circumstances at all. The New England and Buffalo losses perhaps could have been salvaged without the injury to Palmer, but it is hard to say. The defense was still bad.

As we continue to build our talent, and get more experience in games like this, and maybe even be favored to win them, then we'll start to pull them out.