Champs and chumps from Bengals' Week 11 loss to Ravens
- Trey Hendrickson and Jordan Battle balled out
- Playoff hopes are bleak
- OL looked dreadful
- What's going on with the defense?
- Outcoached once again
![Cincinnati Bengals v Baltimore Ravens Cincinnati Bengals v Baltimore Ravens](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_4473,h_2516,x_0,y_466/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/59/01hfdtx027zsvxdg8bmm.jpg)
Chumps
Playoff Hopes
At 5-5 with zero divisional wins and just one win in the conference, it's not looking good for the Bengals to make a push for the playoffs this year. They just so happen to be in the toughest division in the NFL and with their loss to Baltimore, they're now three games behind the Ravens and were swept by them.
That means their best chance to get to the postseason might be as a wild card team but the Steelers and Browns both have edged them out there right now as well. It's still a long season, of course, and there's time to bounce back but if Joe Burrow misses an extended period of time, a playoff berth this year feels very unlikely.
No matter what happens with Burrows’s thumb/wrist here’s the @Bengals reality: they’re now 5-5, last place in their division, 0-3 in divisional play and 1-5 in conference play. The playoffs seem like a REALLY big mountain to climb
— trey wingo (@wingoz) November 17, 2023
Defense
Where did the dominant, smothering Bengals defense go? We just saw that unit pop off not long ago when they took care of the 49ers and Bills in back-to-back weeks but now in back-to-back weeks, they've surrendered over 30 points and gotten gashed on the ground.
The Bengals' defense is surrendering explosive plays at an alarming rate recently and to make matters worse, they didn't force a single turnover on Thursday night. This was especially depressing considering that the Ravens were prone to coughing the football up prior to this match-up yet the defense couldn't force a single takeaway.
Oh, and there were more injuries on defense, as both B.J. Hill, Cam Taylor-Britt, and D.J. Turner got banged up during the loss. Not a good night.
Ravens 34, Bengals 13
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) November 17, 2023
That's now seven plays of 50-plus yards on the night for the Ravens. The #Bengals troubling defensive trend continues.
And you can call it a night here. Down to the locker room where there will be some important questions and answers awaiting.