Division will be decided over the next 3 weeks

[jditty47]

pittsburg faces, at indy, cincy at home, and then bears at home.

cincy faces balt at home, at steelers, and then browns at home.

we need to go 3-0. steelers can easily go 0-3 over this stretch...if that happens we will lock up the division. im guessing steelers will go 1-2 or 2-1 (i cant see them beating the colts)

whats ur thoughts...

[HoosierCat]

Cincy @ Pitt will almost certainly determine who wins the division, no matter what happens this week, and the week after Cincy-Pitt II. Not that the games aren't important, especially for Cincy since they are all division games...but the worst-case scenario is that Pitt deals Indy its first loss and the Bengals are caught looking ahead by Baltimore. In that case, a Bengals win in Pitt ties us back up with four games left, and of the Bengals' remaining opponents only KC has a winning record.

That said, Bengals really need to win Sunday. Pitt handed them a golden opportunity in losing to the Ravens last week. Do thhat and get the job done in Pitt the week after and we've all but locked up the division.

[Stripes]

I agree. All other possibilities aside, we need to beat the Steelers if we are going to take the AFC North away from them. We've been put in such a favorable position this week. We should rather easily dispatch the Ravens and the Colts should beat the Steelers. All the sudden, they'll have four losses, and we'll be back atop the division. As Joisey said, after that, it's up to us to seal the deal. Hand the Steelers their fifth loss and take a two game lead in the division. We had this opportunity in week 7, let's hope it turns out better this time around.

[Spain]

If we lose to pitt and they lose the other 2, they will be 8-5, We will lose one (to pitt) and we will be 9-4 ahead of the AFC north. Thats the way i see it playing out.

Then the real race begins. If the catch us for one game because they beat us twice we have to win out by one game.

[bengalindian]

I think the Bengals need to go 5-1 the rest of the season to win the division. The Steelers need to lose to the Colts, and they get upset by the Bears, at Vikings or even at Browns. Or the Bengals could just beat them next week.

[derekshank]

I think the Bengals need to go 5-1 the rest of the season to win the division. The Steelers need to lose to the Colts, and they get upset by the Bears, at Vikings or even at Browns. Or the Bengals could just beat them next week.

We can't count on other teams doing our dirty work against the Steelers. What we need is to win the next 3 games. They're all divisional games and will give us a 5-1 record in the division. This will also mean that the Steelers will be a probable 4-2 in the division, so the tie breaker would go to us.

I know some people don't believe we can win out... but I do. I think we will win the next 6... but even if we don't, these next 3 are huge! We NEED to win the next 3 so we can win the division. SD is playing really well right now, and with Jacksonville's schedule, the WildCard is not a gimme anymore.