5 NFL teams that must win in Week 8
3. Cincinnati Bengals
As per usual, Andy Dalton and the Bengals had an absolute meltdown on prime time television against the Chiefs last week. They looked far from the 4-2 team that topped the AFC North, and much more like the typical Bengals teams of the last few years that struggled to compete. Last week can be attributed to a lot of different things, and I truly believe the Bengals are still a talented team that can make some noise in the final nine weeks.
This week they square off with the Buccaneers who have had their own struggles thus far. This presents the Bengals with a perfect opportunity to quickly forget last week, and put it behind them. If they take care of business and wipe the floor with the Bucs in front of their home fans, it will be easier to be positive about their season outlook.
A loss on the other hand will all but bury the Bengals as it would be their third consecutive defeat following their 4-1 start to the season. The Buccaneers are very beatable and have one of the worst defenses in the league, if the Bengals cannot take advantage of that, what can they do?
A win would go a long way in restoring some of the confidence that the team surely lost after the shellacking they took from the Chiefs. Expect Dalton and the Bengals to bounce back in a big way this week.