The Cincinnati Bengals were my pick to win the AFC last year, and to their credit, they did make me look good for awhile. Unfortunately, they lost in the first round of the playoffs for the third year in a row. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that they reached the postseason for the third year in a row. And they look very likely to make it four. This franchise is not the punchline that they used to be. Cincinnati has truly turned the corner. To finally make it back to the Super Bowl, and win it (third time the charm?) they’ll need Andy Dalton to not be Andy Dalton. Even though they just gave him an INSANE 6 yea, $115 million deal.
So apparently, they believe in him.
All the cliches “quarterback driven league,” “must step up his game,” and “it all starts with the quarterback” applies to Dalton and the Bengals. If not Dalton then the next option is #BeforeMcCarronIsDrafted
The following video explores the long term situation with Andy Dalton:
That’s sad. Apparently, a lot of NFL people thought A.J. came off douchey. Not a surprise. He does seem like kind of a knob. And his wife, Katherine Webb is the most overrated female celebrity of all time. I’m not saying she’s not attractive, but she’s about 1/100th as attractive as the world seems to think she is. Anyways, McCarron shouldn’t matter, and Dalton is not even close to elite.
Or really above average for that matter. You saw these issues in the post season
. 
What about those WRs? here’s a propaganda video about them:
Here’s a video featuring some AFC North players to watch for your fantasy team:
Cincinnati Bengals Bottom Line:
12-5 to 10-6 is the call here. This division is loaded. Top to bottom it’s the strongest. Not sure anyone will be better than 11-5, but I can’t see anyone being worse than 6-10 either. If Cincinnati can get better, more consistent play out of the QB position they will win the division. But I doubt that will happen.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. He’s also a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)