After two straight losses, the Cincinnati Bengals dropped in most of the Week 5 NFL power rankings.
A loss to the Miami Dolphins, even if Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins don’t play, would probably take them out of the top half of the league for most.
Here’s where we stand right now.
ESPN — No. 15 ↓3
“The numbers suggest Cincinnati has actually done a lot of good things, as it is 10th in points per drive differential.” – Ben Baby
Yahoo! Sports — No. 11 ↑1
“The running game hasn’t been helping. The Bengals have just 297 rushing yards through four
games.” – Frank Schwab
USA TODAY — No. 20 ↓3
“Depending on how long injuries to WRs Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins linger, QB Joe Burrow could be throwing to Dohnte Meyers and Mitch Tinsley.” – Nate Davis
NFL.com — No. 9 ↓1
“Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars showed the value of Ja’Marr Chase to Joe Burrow and the rest of the Bengals’ offense.” – Nick Shook
Pro Football Talk — No. 15 ↓8
“The Super Bowl pipe dream is quickly imploding.” – Mike Florio
Sports Illustrated — No. 16 ↓3
“The Bengals spent the better part of an offseason building an under-center offense and… it’s almost completely unusable now.” – Conor Orr
Sporting News — No. 16 ↓3
“The defense has played well enough to push them to 4-0, but they must cut out the turnovers to be true AFC contenders.” – Vinnie Iyer
CBS Sports — No. 14 (no change)
“At 2-2, they have injury concerns with receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. The offense is so much different if they aren’t around.” – Pete Prisco
New York Post — No. 12 ↓1
The author, Ryan Dunleavy, did not provide a Bengals-specific blurb.
We previewed the upcoming game against the Dolphins with former Bengals o-line coach and HOFer Jim McNally. Watch below.
