The Unexpectedly Undefeated

 

Written by Taylor Odenat

Going into Week 7 of the 2015-2016 NFL season, there are currently five teams with undefeated records. Those teams are The Packers, The Panthers, The Patriots, The Broncos, and unexpectedly to many, The Bengals. For each team you can make a case for why their undefeated record isn’t much of a surprise. The Packers are yearly a threat in the NFC North as they possess arguably the most astute quarterback in the NFL, The Panthers have always boasted a dominant defense and continue to do so, and the Patriots and Broncos still enjoy on their roster two of the greatest regular season quarterbacks of all time. Then there’s the Bengals.

From prior seasons, the Bengals have not been a team known to produce undefeated seasons. The last occurrence of the Cincinnati Bengals heading their division was back in 2013 where they lost in the Wild Card round. The Bengals have gotten accustomed to Wild Card Playoff losses over the past few seasons with their quarterback Andy Dalton under center. Granted, Dalton did improve Cincinnati to an above .500 team, but his limitations in the postseason would always inevitably lead to constant Wild Card defeats.

Andy Dalton would scan the field and see perfectly adept receivers over the years such as A.J Green, Andrew Hawkins, and Jerome Simpson; but he would be incapable of completing passes to them. He would finish the season with over 60% completions on passes, but come postseason that percentage dramatically dips around the 40-50 percent marks. Dalton has yet to prove he is adequate enough to lead a franchise past the preliminary round of the playoffs and he’s had a couple chances to do so.

However, this season the Bengals look like a rejuvenated team. On the field they are a cohesive unit on offense and defense. Dalton’s been the man for the Bengals on offense and has been producing game after game. He’s among the top of the 10 in passing yards at 1,761 in conjunction with a 67.4 completion and leads the top 20 quarterbacks in interceptions thrown, passer rating, and yards per pass attempt. The Red Rifle has kept the offense flourishing along with receivers and running backs Tyler Eifert, A.J. Green, Giovani Bernard and Jeremy Hill.

Along with the offense clicking, ranking fourth amidst all 32 teams in the NFL at 30.4, their defense have also been playing at high levels. They rank top 20 in opposing points per game (19.2), opposing yards per game (364.8), and opposing rushing yards per game (85.8). The Bengals arrive to every game with a balanced offensive and defensive system, where they have excellent ball movement and impressively stifling defense.

The Bengals have been previously predicted to have breakout seasons, but now they seem to be putting it all together and finally using their extraordinary talents to their advantage.

If the Bengals can keep up their uniform attack on the other teams of the NFL for the rest of the season, they’ll be a lock for the playoffs and won’t have to go through the Wild Card round to advance. 

At this rate Andy Dalton is resembling a younger Peyton Manning in the regular season. However, Manning he is a poor performer in the postseason; so Dalton should continue to parallel the Manning of the first 16 games and not the Manning of the playoffs. For the future of Dalton’s job security, he should strive to assist his team in maintaining their undefeated streak without the repetitive early playoff exits that the Bengals fan know all too well.

http://www.cincyjungle.com/2015/9/2/9244235/Bengals-preseason-record-no-indication-of-regular-season-results, http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/passingYards/year/2015/seasontype/2, http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cin/2011.htm, http://espn.go.com/blog/cincinnati-bengals/post/_/id/19719/bengals-steelers-ben-roethlisberger-sooner-later-why-not-now, http://www.sbnation.com/2015/10/8/9471815/2015-nfl-standings-patriots-bengals-packers-broncos-falcons-panthers-undefeated