Youth in key spots could be key to Bengals getting out of funk

The Cincinnati Bengals entered the season with reasonable hopes of making the playoffs for the sixth season in a row.

Then they lost four of their first six games.

All of their losses are to teams with winning records who appear headed toward postseason berths.

Both of their wins are against teams (the Jets and the Dolphins) that can probably go ahead and make other plans for the second weekend in January.

So what to make of coach Marvin Lewis’ club?

Not much has changed since we assessed their first quarter of the season.

Tyler Eifert’s potential return this week could be a step in the right direction.

RELATED: Eifert brightens dreary day

Perhaps the same can be said of Tyler Boyd’s four-catch, 79-yard performance at New England last week.

If the Pro Bowl tight end and rookie receiver can give Andy Dalton — who is throwing for a lot of yards but not touchdowns — consistent weapons to complement A.J. Green, the offense could take a step forward.

The offensive line must also improve or the running game will remain stuck in neutral.

That, in turn, would make Dalton’s life even easier than having more than one Pro Bowler to throw to again.

Follow Marcus Hartman on Twitter.

On the other side of the ball, the Bengals have not played up to recent standards against the pass or the run, and odds seem better they can improve in the former area than the latter.

The bad news? In some areas, personnel just may not be up to snuff.

The good news? With the exception of linebacker, young or inexperience players are mostly the ones needing to improve.

That’s true at right tackle (Cedric Ogbuehi), it’s true at one cornerback spot (Dre Kirkpatrick, or perhaps Darqueze Dennard if he can stay healthy) and one safety.

Running back Jeremy Hill is early enough in his NFL tenure he could still reasonably be expected to figure out some things and play better, too. (Or just get bigger holes to run through…)

RELATED: 5 things to know about the NFL’s Week 7

So what’s the answer to our original question? A tentative, “Yes.”

Cincinnati has a coaching staff that has proven to be good at staying the course and developing talent over the years.

There’s a quarterback who appears to be getting better at covering up deficiencies rather than needing to be protected, and a super-talented, productive defensive line to build the defense on.

Some of the matchup problems New England highlighted in the second half might not be fixable, so the ceiling of this team is probably not the Super Bowl, but a postseason berth (and even a win) still seems attainable.

The schedule lightens up from here on out, too, beginning with the Browns on Sunday.

No games are gimmes in the NFL, but this is one the Bengals must have to get started moving back in the right direction.

Otherwise it will be time to start counting top 10 draft picks for next spring.

About the Author