CINCINNATI \u2013 As the Bengals continue to sit back on their couches, throw birthday parties for their 2-year-olds (Rocky Reader) and presumably catch up on The Squid Game and the re-boot of Dexter, it\u2019s a good time to consider the viability of the Bengals as a playoff contender.<\/p>\n
The messaging has been clear from Jungleland. No panic. It\u2019s all in front of us. We have the talent. Everyone is together. We\u2019re a band of brothers. Just take it from Joe Burrow and D.J. Reader, who\u2019s spending the weekend throwing a Shrek birthday party for his two-year-old son, Rocky.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got tough, resilient guys,” Burrow said after the 41-16 loss to Cleveland. “Everything is still in front of us.”<\/p>\n
The Bengals have eight games left, seven against the AFC. Five of the eight are at Paul Brown Stadium, which won’t mean a thing if they come close to repeating the performance level last Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a bunch of AFC opponents left,\u201d added Reader. \u201cEverything we want is right in front of us. Everybody we play is in our division. Everybody that\u2019s sitting at 5-4 with us, we have to play all of those people. It\u2019s an exciting feeling.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know it\u2019s on you and you much rather have it that way then sit there and hoping a bunch of teams lose. That\u2019s a rough feeling when you have to sit there and hope that\u2019s going to happen and this is going to happen, we have everything in front us. That means a lot as a player because you know it\u2019s on you. That\u2019s the way you want it.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Reader and the Bengals return for their final eight games of the 2021 regular season it\u2019s clear that the outcome could easily go one of two ways:<\/p>\n
They reclaim their mojo from the first seven weeks when they went 5-2, beat Pittsburgh and Baltimore on the road and return to the defensive form that had them in the top 10 in most critical areas.<\/p>\n
Or\u2026<\/p>\n
They continue their slide to oblivion and miss the playoffs for the third straight year under Zac Taylor and sixth straight overall.<\/p>\n
So, I respectfully submit:<\/p>\n
Leadership remains calm in rough waters: <\/strong>Perhaps the only silver lining after the 41-16 butt whooping laid on by the Browns before the bye was the post-game press conference given by C.J. Uzomah and the tone of calm he projected. That is precisely the leadership that will see the Bengals through their 67 minutes to forget from the end of the Jets game through the debacle at PBS against Cleveland. If the locker room remains solid, the ship will sail into open waters and regain its bearings. The belief is that this locker room is much more stable now than the previous three seasons. Two straight losses? As Burrow said after Cleveland, it\u2019s not a big deal. Teams lose two in a row all the time and bounce back. The Bengals feel their bounce back starts in Vegas.<\/p>\n Joe Burrow cleans up his poor decisions, discovers his running backs\/tight ends:<\/strong> If there\u2019s one criticism to throw Burrow\u2019s way it\u2019s the fact that he hasn\u2019t checked down enough to his running backs or throw release routes to his tight ends enough. We saw glimpses of that on the opening drive against Cleveland before he forced a ball to Ja\u2019Marr Chase that was taken to the house by Denzel Ward. Chase is going to make big plays, no question. But it\u2019s on Burrow to get Tyler Boyd, Joe Mixon and Uzomah more involved. And it\u2019s on Zac Taylor and Brian Callahan to start using rookie Chris Evans like the weapon he is. The Bengals have one of the most dynamic offensive rosters in football. They need to use all of it to return to the postseason. While the Bengals red zone is decent at 66.7 percent, their third-down conversion is not. With the weapons at his disposal, there’s no reason the Bengals should be converting only 38 percent of their chances on third down. Also no reason for Joe Burrow to be throwing a pick at an alarming 3.79 percent of the time. Only the Jets and Bears are worse in the NFL. Burrow has carried the Bengals offense but he could afford to clean up his looks when receivers are covered. He has 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions this season.<\/p>\n TD No. 2\ufe0f\u20e3 for @Joe_MainMixon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch on CBS pic.twitter.com\/4YJAPgelIU<\/a><\/p>\n — Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) October 31, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n