NFL preview 2017: Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals find themselves battling for the top spot in the AFC North, and are looking to make some noise.

The Cincinnati Bengals fell apart in 2016 after a strong performance in 2015 that landed them in the postseason as a wild card. Now, they’ll be looking to improve and get back towards the top of the AFC North.

While the Bengals have been solid over the years, they haven’t been able to make any noise in the postseason, not having made it out of the Wild Card round in their last seven trips to the playoffs. The AFC North crown has been a big game of hot potato over the last eight seasons, with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens and the Bengals all exchanging the division title. Oh, and then there’s the Browns.

Although the Bengals couldn’t get it done last season, finishing third in the AFC North, they always seem to have the potential to pull off a run in any regular season. A big piece of that has been Andy Dalton over the years, as the Bengals quarterback has been solid in his good years, but his inconsistency often gets them into trouble, as well.

The team’s offense hasn’t been the biggest strong point over the years since the days of Carson Palmer, but its defense has usually more than made up for it. The Bengals have been in the top 10 in points allowed in five of the last six seasons, but have fallen apart when it comes to yards allowed in games over the last three years. Despite those poor stats, they still made the playoffs in two of them and even won the division once.

This year’s lineup will be incredibly different from the last few seasons. There’s a ton of youth coming into the lineup, especially after some big picks in the 2017 NFL Draft, but there have been some big departures that could impact things significantly.

For the additions, the Bengals added John Ross with the ninth-overall pick and controversially picked Joe Mixon in the second round to help bolster their offense. The team’s receiving corps is already pretty solid with A.J. Green, Brandon Lafell and Tyler Boyd rounding out the Bengals’ top three. Still, we could see Ross thrown into the mix in an emergency, and he could shine quickly. Add in the likely usual success from Tyler Eifert at tight end, and the Bengals’ passing attack could prove to be one of the conference’s best as the year goes along.

Meanwhile, the Mixon pick could be signaling a changing of the guard in the Bengals backfield, with Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard both now battling for reps. The team’s rushing game was already diverse with both Hill and Bernard splitting time, and Mixon could provide as both a solid rushing and receiving threat to help make the decision easier for the Bengals’ coaching staff this year.

Unfortunately,the rushing attack will need some extra work now after Andrew Whitworth left for the Los Angeles Rams, leaving a huge void on the offensive line. Whitworth was arguably their most valuable player in the team’s previous two runs to the postseason in 2014 and 2015. Right guard Kevin Zeitler is also gone from last season’s offensive line, so the team will need to count on some young talent to step up quickly to keep Dalton safe.

With the AFC North hit-or-miss all around, the Bengals have a shot to return to the top of the division if they can figure out how to hide their weaknesses on offense. However, they’ll have to keep their heads on straight for a whole season if they have any chance, especially with guys like Mixon, Vontaze Burfict, and Adam “Pacman” Jones.

The team will really just have to compete with the Steelers and Ravens, with the Browns likely out of the equation again. If they can take advantage of some home games against their two threats in the division, they could find themselves right back in the postseason equation.

X-Factor

There’s a ton of potential X-factors on the Bengals going into 2017, whether it’s Dalton, one of the new linemen or an established guy like Green, but the biggest question marks have to surround Mixon.

Mixon was a controversial pick in the draft, but his talent may be able to quickly squash any doubts surrounding his arrival in Cincinnati. He’s going to have to prove his worth on the team rather quickly, with talented backs like Hill and Bernard in the ranks alongside him. However, he could easily make the controversies less of a story, a la Michael Vick, if his talent matches up to the expectations.

It’s incredibly high-risk, low-reward for the Bengals with Mixon, with two other backs there to replace him if things go awry, but he could have the potential to shine with the Bengals and be incredibly important on a potential playoff run .

Best case

The Bengals are in the running for the division title at the beginning of almost every season, and this year is no different heading into the regular season.

The team has a ton of talent to work with on both sides of the ball, and especially has enough on defense in its linebacking group and secondary to stop both the Steelers and the Ravens throughout the year. While there’s a ton of different scenarios for the Bengals to go through in 2017, the best case sees them returning to the top of the throne after one year away from it.

However, even in their best case scenario, the Bengals have struggled over the years getting out of their first postseason matchup if they make it.

Worst case

While the best case scenario obviously has them right back in the postseason, the Bengals proved in 2016 that the worst case scenario can be rather drastic if they don’t get off to a hot start. After a 6-9-1 year last year,

The Bengals do have a tough schedule to work with, especially as the AFC North finds itself up against the likes of the Packers and Lions in the NFC North throughout the regular season. If those games fall apart, along with being unable to defeat their two rivals in the division, they could fall right back towards the record and performance they had last year that disappointed their fans.

Even in their worst case scenario, it’s tough to do much worse than the Browns do year in and year out, so the team’s worst case still likely has them in third in the division, no matter their record.

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Final word

The AFC North features three pretty equal teams battling for the top spot in a tough division, and it’s really anyone’s race to win. The Bengals can easily get back atop the division after one year away from the spotlight, but their offensive line struggles are really going to impact things throughout the season.

There are a ton of big question marks with voids to fill and controversial players to deal with, and Marvin Lewis really needs to keep his players in check and on the same page if the team wants to pull out a run this year.