Bengals drop out of top 10 in NFL power rankings after Week 1
Week 2 NFL power rankings are out, and the Cincinnati Bengals falling out of the top 10. As one of five main favorites to win the Super Bowl, the Bengals were near the top of most major power rankings to begin the season. Their 24-3 Week 1 loss to the Cleveland Browns was enough to […]
Week 2 NFL power rankings are out, and the Cincinnati Bengals falling out of the top 10.
As one of five main favorites to win the Super Bowl, the Bengals were near the top of most major power rankings to begin the season. Their 24-3 Week 1 loss to the Cleveland Browns was enough to cause early panic.
NFL.com dropped them from sixth to 11, NBCSports' ProFootballTalk dropped them from fourth to 12th, and ESPN dropped them from third to 13th.
Is it too early to declare the Bengals are no longer a top-10 team in the NFL after just one loss? Granted, it wasn't a close loss by any means, but there were clear reasons as to why this was the case.
The simple truth is that the Bengals have undeniable issues scheming against the Browns, and those issues are not going away. This matchup combined with a rusty Joe Burrow commanding an out-of-sync offense and slippery conditions created a disaster.
"What to do with the Bengals? On the one hand, it’s easy to write off Week 1’s disaster performance based on history. The Browns delivered a similarly humbling loss to Cincinnati last Halloween and have had the Bengals’ number defensively in recent meetings. The Bengals also stunk in Week 1 last year, dropping a five-turnover clunker to the Steelers. Plus, Joe Burrow missed nearly all of training camp, which clearly hurt his and the offense’s timing. The Browns certainly deserve defensive credit. But it’s just hard to imagine Burrow’s struggles lingering or the Bengals enduring another game where Tee Higgins has eight targets and zero catches. Yet, like a year ago, the offensive line fell flat in the opener. That’s the one issue that worries me long term." – NFL.com's Eric Edholm on ranking Bengals 11th
We've evolved to a point where Week 1 in the NFL is rarely viewed as indicative of how the rest of the season will unfold. For some teams, it's the beginning of the end, but not every loser stays down permanently.
If you saw the Bengals enough to place them in the top 10 last week, it should take more than one stinker of a game to drop them out entirely. But that's the price you pay for losing by 21 points right out the gate.
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Featured image via © Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
