Bengals fall off a cliff in NFL Power Rankings after Week 1 loss to Patriots

Unsurprisingly, the Cincinnati Bengals took a major dive in the latest iteration of FanSided's weekly NFL Power Rankings following their 16-10 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 1. The Bengals were a top-10 team heading into the season (ranked No. 9 overall last week), and dropped all the way down to No. 20 in the most recent rankings.

Bengals tumble out of the top 10 in latesst power rankings

The Bengals were favored to win the game, but they played poorly on both sides of the ball and now start the season 0-1 for the third consecutive season. Here's some of the provided rationale for the big drop:

"What a disastrous way to start the season for the Cincinnati Bengals. This team has been notorious for starting slow but, with Joe Burrow getting a full training camp in, albeit with some guardrails to make sure his health and recovery were going along properly, you expected more than what they showed, and certainly expected them to at least beat the Patriots."

The Bengals certainly didn't look like a top-10 team in Week 1, so the drop in the rankings is logical. They still have a whole lot to prove before anyone will take them seriously as a potential contender. They'll need to play much better in Week 2 if they want to avoid dropping even fiurther in next week's rankings.

The bad news for the Bengals is that their next game comes against the defending-champion Chiefs... in Kansas City. Winning that one won't be easy at all. The good news is that we'll learn a whole lot about this year's Bengals squad one way or another. Are they going to come out strong and bounce back after a disappointing start to the season? Or are they going to start 0-2 yet again?

It's still super early in the season, so there's no need to panic. Sometimes early adversity can be good for a team. But the way the Bengals played against New England didn't inspire much confidence regarding what kind of season fans in Cincinnati are in store for.

Check back in next week to see where the Bengals land in the power rankings after the game against Kansas City.