Genius, what genius?

[jjakq27]

It's really rather simple. You are on the road in a close game. Your defense is playing well. You are inside the 10. Take the points and kick the field goal.

The Ravens 12-10 loss at Denver yesterday probably cost us a second seed and a first round bye. Thanks again, BB, you dumbass.

[Spain]

Dont worry Denver isnt playing that well of late and they have San deigo coming!

[walzav29]

We're going to have our own issues with KC. That is going to be a shootout. I hope we can hold Larry to under 200.

[WhoDey42]

Dont worry Denver isnt playing that well of late and they have San deigo coming!

And San Diego just lost to the Dolphins at home!

The Ravens got it to the 1 yd line. And they set up a play for Boller to pass it on 3rd down! I was following it on my cell phone and when I saw it was 4th and goal I told the guy i was with "It's 12-6 now"....then I see they lose 4 yds goin for it! Anyone else think Billick is just tired of Baltimore and he wants to get outta there? He's a dumba--!!

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

We're going to have our own issues with KC. That is going to be a shootout. I hope we can hold Larry to under 200.

Just how many rushing yards did Rueben have this weekend? Our defense can stop the run.

[derekshank]

We're going to have our own issues with KC. That is going to be a shootout. I hope we can hold Larry to under 200.

Just how many rushing yards did Rueben have this weekend? Our defense can stop the run.

Yes we can... We've been stopping the run rather well ever since the big loss to Pittsburgh. The problem is that we are completely selling out on the run, and getting taken to school in the passing game.

We haven't faced very many offenses that can exploit that yet. Indy definetly exploited it... and even Pittsburgh did. Trent Green is a very good QB, and will be able to take advantage of our weak safeties much better than the Steelers... so if we sell out on stopping Larry Johnson, it will look very similar to the Indy game.

The good news: KC is not Indy. They don't have the receivers (although I expect Tony Gonzalez to have a field day against Ohalete and KK) and their secondary is just plain bad. The bad news: It's @KC, so a victory will still be very difficult to come by.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

I doubt Ohalete gets the start against Detroit, yet alone against KC.

[derekshank]

Well... whoever starts in his place (probably Mitchell) can't be that much of an upgrade, or it wouldn't have taken an injury to get him out of the lineup.

[kingwilly]

First of all, Billicks days are numbered. He really screwed the pooch yesterday....bad. Just a terrible coaching job. Maybe he did it on purpose???to screw us!

As for KC....The KC line is much healthier than earlier in the year. We all know LJ is a horse, more so than any other RB we've seen yet this year. The only back close to him we've seen is Taylor from JAX and he handed us our hats.

Jumpng on them early and forcing them to pass would work better than having LJ set a new rushing record...

[HoosierCat]

We haven't faced very many offenses that can exploit that yet. Indy definetly exploited it... and even Pittsburgh did. Trent Green is a very good QB, and will be able to take advantage of our weak safeties much better than the Steelers... so if we sell out on stopping Larry Johnson, it will look very similar to the Indy game.

The good news: KC is not Indy. They don't have the receivers (although I expect Tony Gonzalez to have a field day against Ohalete and KK) and their secondary is just plain bad. The bad news: It's @KC, so a victory will still be very difficult to come by.

We may not want one. KC has the Giants and SD before us. NY is beatable for KC (Giants opened as a 3 point fav -- home field and nothing more) and SD is struggling. If KC wins those 2 then a victory over Cincy would make them 11-5 and they'd have a better AFC record than Pitt (who can only get to 11-5 if they win out).

In that case, I think the Bengals rest their starters in week 17, almost ensuring a KC win, knocking Pitt out of the postseason.

The "wild card" in this scenario is Denver, and whether we have a chance at the No. 2 seed, in which case we may want a week 17 win. But Denver has the Bills and Oakland before finishing with SD, and by then SD may be out of the playoff picture. Hopes to grab the second seed seem pretty dim to me. But it ought to be an interesting final 3 weeks!

[ShulaSteakhouse]

If the Bengals can't beat KC, then I don't really see them winning a playoff game unless it's at home, if that. We're talking about the Bengals who have struggled stopping the Ravens and Browns at home of late.

This is a defense that struggles against the worst offenses in the league.

And no offense is going to score 35-40 points every week - no one.

They give up big plays on 3rd down like it's going out of style and cannot pressure the QB to save their life, for whatever reason. They have done better versus the run - at the expense of giving up big passing plays. TE's continue to kill them every single week and nothing changes.

Great season all-around, but am still convinced the Bengals' just aren't there yet and we're probably looking at some heartbreak here at the end of the season, or in the 1st round of the playoffs, I'm just trying to stay grounded and realistic about this team, instead of being delusionsal - anything can happen - and that's all we can hope for.

[BengalsOwn]

We're going to have our own issues with KC. That is going to be a shootout. I hope we can hold Larry to under 200.

Just how many rushing yards did Rueben have this weekend? Our defense can stop the run.

Rueben is no Larry Johnson.

Cleveland O-line is no Chiefs O-line.

[derekshank]

If the Bengals can't beat KC, then I don't really see them winning a playoff game unless it's at home, if that. We're talking about the Bengals who have struggled stopping the Ravens and Browns at home of late.

This is a defense that struggles against the worst offenses in the league.

And no offense is going to score 35-40 points every week - no one.

They give up big plays on 3rd down like it's going out of style and cannot pressure the QB to save their life, for whatever reason. They have done better versus the run - at the expense of giving up big passing plays. TE's continue to kill them every single week and nothing changes.

Great season all-around, but am still convinced the Bengals' just aren't there yet and we're probably looking at some heartbreak here at the end of the season, or in the 1st round of the playoffs, I'm just trying to stay grounded and realistic about this team, instead of being delusionsal - anything can happen - and that's all we can hope for.

The things you say are very rational, and level headed... but we are better than that... We really are!

I re-watched the Indy game the other night.. .and there were 4 or 5 plays that could have gone either way. Penalties that probably should have been called on them, or should not have been called on us, and 2 failed 4th down conversions. It seems like every single play that could have gone either way went their way... and we lost by 1 score.

If these plays had merely split down the middle, we would have won the game. When we are playing well, we can play with anybody. We had a bad week against Cleveland. Don't let it get you down. It happens... the key is continuing to win... and we've won 5 out of our last 6.

We should beat KC... but we'll have to play well. I think we will go 13-3, and will win at least one playoff game... because against good teams, like Indy and Pit, we have played at an extremely high level. We just have to keep doing what we're doing.

[jjakq27]

I'm just trying to stay grounded and realistic about this team, instead of being delusionsal -

Come on Shu, try the kool-aid....it's good!

[bengalboomer7]

Isn't exactly what your saying what most peple expected anyways Shula? And after years of losing, isn't that enough to satisfy you, at least for the sumer?

Fact of the matter is, you get to the playoffs and you have just as much chance at the Dance as the other eleven teams. It's 50-50 and either you win or you lose, but in no way, at least in my eyes, does not making the Super Bowl make this season a failure.

[Columbusbengal]

We're going to have our own issues with KC. That is going to be a shootout. I hope we can hold Larry to under 200.

We clearly can - the only problem is that they'll have a 350 yard passing day. KC is behind only Seattle, Indy, and Cincy as far as having a great balanced offense (you can stop either the pass or the run - but not both). We'll just have to outscore them (I don't think their defense is really any better than ours).

Jumpng on them early and forcing them to pass would work better than having LJ set a new rushing record...

Jumping on anyone early is always a good idea with our defense. However, if we have to stop either the run or the pass, I'd rather stop the pass. Make the other team run a bunch of plays to score. I think we can hold teams to a field goal if they are relying on the run once they get to the red zone, while we can possibly get TDs more easily.

Great season all-around, but am still convinced the Bengals' just aren't there yet and we're probably looking at some heartbreak here at the end of the season, or in the 1st round of the playoffs, I'm just trying to stay grounded and realistic about this team, instead of being delusionsal - anything can happen - and that's all we can hope for.

I totally agree only I will definitely not be looking at any heartbreak. If the Bengals finish 12-4, I will be so ecstatic I have no chance to be disappointed if they can't win a playoff game. I'd like to leave something to be excited about next season. I think we can go to the Super Bowl next year if we make some defensive improvements (and not that many either - we have some young players who are going to get better).