Continuing in my series of predictions that are bound to be wrong, here’s a first run at the top six picks in the April 2009 draft.
1. Detroit Lions: QB Matthew Stafford, Georgia. Obviously, at 0-16 the Lions could go just about any direction here and improve. The best course of action would be to trade this booby prize away for more picks with which to rebuild. Then again, like the Bengals, the Lions usually screw up the draft anyhow, so more picks only means more disappointment. And in any event, no one wants the first overall any more.
2. St. Louis [...]

Now that I have established my complete ineptitude with predictions (see previous entry), here’s my take on which Bengals free agents will be back, and which won’t.
Unrestricted Free Agents:

RT Stacy Andrews – re-signed to low-money deal, spends 2009 on PUP/IR.
RB Cedric Benson – Bengals bite the bullet, give him starter-caliber RB deal prior to March 1.
LB/DE Darryl Blackstock – Bengals want him back, but don’t get him.
S Chris Crocker – turns 29 in March, won’t draw heavy interest, will be back.
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick – gained too much experience in ‘08 to throw away. Re-signed.
CB Jamar Fletcher – may hang around [...]

Not, of course, that I need all that much help. But in the interest of maintaining accountability around this blog (I know, when there’s no accountability in the Bengals organization, why should I bother? I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment.) here’s a look back at my howler of a season prediction. You know, the one in which I said the Bengals would go 10-6. And make the playoffs. As the AFC North champs.
Insert one of those old Warner Bros. cartoon scenes, where the main character (me) momentarily morphs into a jackass while the “hee-haw! hee-haw!” sfx play, here.
In [...]

During free agency ‘08, the Bengals lost three players — Landon Johnson, Madieu Williams and Justin Smith — and in their final cuts released fan favorites Rudi Johnson and Willie Anderson, as well as Deltha O’Neal and Ahmad Brooks. So, how did this years’ crop of ex-Bengals fare in the final week of the regular season?
First up, those whose year is done:

Rudi Johnson didn’t play in the Lions’ record-setting 16th loss Sunday. He finishes the year 76/237/1 on the ground and 12/88/1 through the air, with 1 fumble. Final verdict: The decision to cut Rudi in August in favor of [...]

In a classic Dead Cat Bounce, the Bengals popped the Kansas City Chiefs 16-6 Sunday to earn a winning record — 4-3-1 — over the second half of the season. That performance (as usual) likely ensures that head coach Marvin Lewis and his staff will return in 2009, despite the team’s overall 4-11-1 showing.
The same can probably not be said for Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards, who now awaits his fate in Kansas City. The Chiefs’ tepid showing against the Bengals may be the final straw for Edwards, who was already considered likely to follow GM Carl Peterson out the [...]

The Bengals’ 16-6 defeat of the Kansas City Chiefs today, combined with Cleveland’s loss to Pittsburgh, means that Cincinnati (4-11-1) escapes the AFC North cellar and finishes third in the division, half a game ahead of the hapless 4-12 Browns. Cleveland will now pick fourth next April, with the Bengals sliding to fifth for the moment, pending the results of the Oakland-Tampa Bay and Seattle-Arizona games.
Update: Oakland has upset Tampa Bay, completing the Bucs’ epic collapse this year. That Raiders victory closes out the seventh overall pick for Cincinnati. They will pick fifth if Seattle wins, sixth if Seattle loses. [...]

Both Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh will miss the Bengals’ season finale against Kansas City today. Chad continues to nurse a hammy injury, while Housh is down with back problems.
Rookies Anthony Collins and Dennis Roland will start at left and right tackle, respectively.
Update: Here’s kingwilly’s weekly preview!
Game 16 – 2008 Bengals Season
Chiefs at Bengals, December 28, 2008 – 1pm EST
—————————————–
How will the Bengals Offense Look?
Quarterback:
This is a glass-half empty/half-full situation with Mr. Fitzkitna. Well, I am still left wondering what it is we are drinking. There are those, myself included, who felt of all the available FA QB’s that could [...]

The Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs play for the fifth time in six years Sunday. These AFC Midwest Division foes are knotted at 2-2 over the previous four games, with the Bengals famously defeating the 9-0 Chiefs in 2003 and again on opening day 2006. The Chiefs in turn trashed a 2005 Bengals team that was resting its starters ahead of the playoffs, and also won the most recent engagement in week 6 last season. Whoever wins tomorrow, the loser will have a chance to even the score in 2009, when the Chiefs and Bengals will clash yet again [...]

There’s been a fair amount of buzz in Bengaldom regarding a weasel-word-filled blog post by NFL.com’s Adam Schefter. First, we get a blinding glimpse of the obvious when Schefter avers that Stacy Andrews’ knee injury “could likely mean” any use of the franchise tag is off the table for him.
Could likely mean. Gee, Adam, don’t stretch yourself too far out on that limb.
Not being a heap big NFL.com writer with a rep to maintain, I’ll happily project that the chances the Bengals franchise Andrews now are slim to none, and slim just left town.
Then we get the big prediction: “a [...]

On the strength of a three interception, one touchdown game against Cleveland, Bengals cornerback Leon Hall has been named the AFC’s Defensive Player of the Week.
Hall is the first Bengal to get the nod since Brian Simmons in 2005.