So far, so good

After a decent start and a shaky mid-season, the Cincinnati Bengals seem to be back on track with a three game winning streak.

The team started the season 3-0 but then lost the next 5 out of 6 games. At 4-5 it appeared the Bengals of old had returned - the offense was sputtering and the defense was atrocious. Then everything changed, at least in my mind, against San Diego in week 10. While the defense still struggled - the Chargers came back from a 21 point deficit and eventually scored 49 points - the Bengals offense finally connected. Even though they lost, Carson Palmer passed for a career high 440 yards, Chad Johnson racked up an unbelievable 260 yards receiving and the team wound up with 41 points.

After that shoot-out loss there has been no stopping the Palmer-Johnson connection nor the Bengals' winning ways. Division leaders New Orleans? Nope. The Cleveland Browns? Seriously? The Bengals defense, at one point ranked as one of the worst in football, held the Browns to zero points. Zip. Nada. Nothing. Last night the Bengals even defeated their division's leaders, the Baltimore Ravens. Once again a shut out until the final :60 seconds of the game when the Ravens finally put 7 points on the board.

At 7-5 with four more games to play it's conceivable that the Benglas could once again make their way into the play-offs and maybe, just maybe, win their division once again this year.