Teams usually raise their expectations after they make it to the playoffs. Unfortunately for the fans of the Cincinnati Bengals, they have struggled the last few years whenever they have made it into the playoffs. In fact, their last playoff win came back in 1990 when Boomer Esiason led them to victory over the Houston Oilers. They have lost their last six playoff games though, including their last four, which are from the past four seasons when they have made the playoffs in four straight years.
Those losses include 2005 when they won the AFC North, but they had lost quarterback Carson Palmer to a knee injury and instead were starting Jon Kitna in a playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-17. In 2009, they went up against Darrelle Revis, Rex Ryan, and the New York Jets in Ryan's rookie season as the Head Coach. Both Shonn Greene and Thomas Jones would run for rushing touchdowns and Chad Johnson was exiled to Revis Island as they lost 24-14. 2011 and 2012 saw losses coming at the hands of the Houston Texans. In 2011, J.J. Watt had a nice interception return for a touchdown in a 31-10 Bengals loss, and Arian Foster score the Texans' only touchdown as Shayne Graham would kick 4 field goals as the Texans won again 19-13. In 2013, the Bengals were actually favored at home as they went up against rookie Head Coach Mike McCoy and the San Diego Chargers. The three headed running back tandem of Ryan Mathews, Danny Woodhead, and Ronnie Brown combined for 183 yards on the ground and Andy Dalton threw two interceptions as the Chargers pulled the upset and won 27-10. In 2014, A.J. Green was hurt and the offensive was ineffective as they would line up a running back in Rex Burkhead in the slot and the Indianapolis Colts would keep their playoff losing streak going as they lost again 26-10.
Can Head Coach Marvin Lewis keep his job if he cannot get a playoff victory? Will this be the season that the Bengals can break through and defeat their playoff opponent? There are a lot of questions about the team that is looking to roar in the playoffs and it's time to see just what to expect from them in 2015.
Free Agent Departures
There are a few key names that have left the Bengals during the 2015 off-season, so let's go through them one by one.
Jermaine Gresham did not make the same impact that the Bengals were hoping for when they had drafted him several years ago, and now that they had also drafted Tyler Eifert in the last few years they didn't have a major need to keep Gresham at tight end. He did sign a one year deal for a little over three million to join the Arizona Cardinals.
Marshall Newhouse isn't the best offensive lineman in the business, but he has been serviceable for several NFL teams in the past, including the Green Bay Packers. But the right tackle signed with the New York Giants, where he will reunite with Ben McAdoo.
Terrence Newman, the veteran cornerback, left the Bengals this year and signed with the Minnesota Vikings. He reunited with former Bengals defensive coordinator in Mike Zimmer, who is now the Head Coach of the Vikings. The Bengals have been drafting a lot of talent at cornerback the past few seasons, so they should be able to survive the loss of Newman at cornerback.
Key Acquisitions
The two main free agents to the Bengals arrived on defense this off-season. They signed defensive end Michael Johnson, formerly of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He came in at a twenty million dollar deal over four years. The other major free agent name is A.J. Hawk. He has been a good tackling linebacker with the Green Bay Packers for years since they took him in the 2005 NFL Draft and it will be interesting to see him playing in the Black and Orange.
The offensive side of the ball is where the Bengals started their focus in the 2015 NFL Draft. Their first and second round picks both went to offensive lineman in Cedric Ogbuehi and Jake Fisher. Both of them are listed as potential offensive lineman and provide depth behind the starting tackles of Andre Smith and Andrew Whitworth. They took a double dip in the draft at tight end as well where they took Tyler Kroft and C.J. Uzomah. That's going to help soften the loss of Jermaine Gresham this off-season and possibly help them go to more of a two tight end look as the season progresses as they still have Eifert too. The other offensive minded player they took was wide receiver Mario Alford. He's a little smaller and a bit of a speed guy so expect to see him start by making an impact on special teams.
On the defensive side of the ball though they still found some players that they hope will be strong players for them in 2015 and beyond. Their first pick was a compensatory selection from the third round, linebacker Paul Dawson. Dawson was productive in college, but his production was difficult to project into the NFL as his combine results were lackluster. They took Josh Shaw in the fourth round, the cornerback from USC. If you think you recognize this name, it's probably because you do. Shaw was the player that had reportedly jumped off a balcony to save his nephew who was drowning in a swimming pool, but in reality he was running from the police. He was suspended from the team for a majority of the season and they will have to hope that Shaw can keep his nose clean since he's in the NFL. The other two picks went to Marcus Hardison who had developed at Arizona State after being at a Junior College and then Derron Smith, who had fallen in the draft due to a recent injury.
2015 Cincinnati Bengals Schedule
September 13 at Oakland Raiders
September 20 - San Diego Chargers
September 27 at Baltimore Ravens
October 4 - Kansas City Chiefs
October 11 - Seattle Seahawks
October 18 at Buffalo Bills
November 1 at Pittsburgh Steelers
November 5 - Cleveland Browns
November 16 - Houston Texans
November 22 at Arizona Cardinals
November 29 - St. Louis Rams
December 6 at Cleveland Browns
December 13 - Pittsburgh Steelers
December 20 at San Francisco 49ers
December 28 at Denver Broncos
January 3 - Baltimore Ravens
This schedule is a particularly difficult schedule in the AFC. They have two difficult stretches for the Bengals, and it starts early in weeks 2-5 where they face the Chargers, Ravens, Chiefs, and Seahawks. They would probably love a split as they go through those games. And the other difficult stretch is their final four games as they take on the Steelers, 49ers, Broncos, and Ravens. Other than the NFC game against San Francisco, they are taking on other AFC teams that they could be fighting to get into the playoffs or for better playoff positioning. Either way, this schedule stacks up and should not be an easy schedule for the Bengals.
Prediction
Andy Dalton and A.J. Green are going to make noise for certain during the 2015 NFL season. The team is too talented on both offensive and defense with players like Jeremy Hill, Giovani Bernard, Domata Peko, Vontaze Burfict, and Dre Kirkpatrick. They are going to win some games and this writer would have them taking a wild card spot as they will finish the season at 10-6 behind the AFC North Champion Baltimore Ravens. While they would want to win a playoff game, it's just difficult for this writer to figure out who exactly they would defeat given the circumstance of a wild card game, because they would likely lose to any of the division champions like the New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, or Indianapolis Colts. So this writer is keeping the streak alive as they will make the playoffs again in 2015, but lose for the fifth straight year in a row and the seventh straight time in their history.