Bengals Lacking the Killer Instinct Needed to Hold onto AFC North Crown

Though the Cincinnati Bengals fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers 42-21 in Week 14, the loss does not take them out of contention in the AFC North.

However, with a tough schedule ahead, the game typifies how well—and ill—equipped the Bengals are to handle the remainder of the season and finally get that elusive postseason win.

The problem with the Bengals, when distilled down to the core, is a lack of killer instinct.

The Bengals know how to win games—and win them convincingly. It's just that they don't win with authority. They are not stomping their feet in the turf and saying, "This is what you get when you mess with the Bengals."

For all it's worth, the Bengals are 8-4-1 in the AFC North and still the division's top seed. It took the Steelers until the fourth quarter—where they scored 25 unanswered points in under 10 minutes—to get the win on Sunday.

Bengals receiver A.J. Green boasted a career-high 224 yards on his 11 receptions and quarterback Andy Dalton went without throwing an interception.

It's not that the Bengals are soft. It's just that they are more competent and talented than they are intimidating. 

The Bengals have a very difficult three-game stretch to close out the season.

On Sunday, they travel to Cleveland to take on a Cleveland Browns team that brutalized them to the tune of a 24-3 loss in Week 10, with Dalton having his worst game of the season. Then they host the Denver Broncos on Monday night before traveling to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers in the year's final game.

If they are worth representing their division in the playoffs this year, they must not only play well against these three teams, but also look dominant while doing so.

The Browns are coming off a one-point loss to the Indianapolis Colts while also putting up their best defensive performance of the season. The Broncos, well, the Broncos are quarterbacked by Peyton Manning so we know what they are capable of doing—especially in prime time. The Steelers just showed the Bengals their best offensive efforts.

The Bengals can play well, but now they must play explosively. They must make a dramatic turn from what gotten them this far without negating the things that have worked for them.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Even with so many weapons at Dalton's disposal, the Bengals have just 33 passing plays of 20 or more yards and eight of 40 or more.

The two-headed rushing monster of Giovani Bernard and Jeremy Hill has combined for 1,286 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns this year, but no defense seems to be as afraid of them as, say, the Bengals defense is afraid of Pittsburgh's Le'Veon Bell.

The defense boasts only 15 sacks and 12 interceptions this season. Pressure isn't getting to opposing quarterbacks. Drives aren't being stopped in dramatic fashion.

Plainly, big plays are lacking on both sides of the ball. 

Team	Record	YPG	Rank	PPG	Rank	Opp. YPG	Rank	Opp. PPG	Rank
@ CLE	7-6	353.8	13	21.2	21	360.5	20	20.8	11
vs. DEN	10-3	405.6	4	29.6	4	311.0	4	22.5	17
@ PIT	8-5	427.0	2	27.8	6	352.5	16	24.5	21

That fourth quarter against the Steelers speaks volumes about who the Bengals are. One fumble by Dalton—which led to a Bell touchdown and a Heath Miller two-point conversion for the Steelers—and the offense clammed up.

The Steelers were then able to move the ball at will, scoring points in three-minute increments. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was barely touched and wasn't sacked once.

At a moment in the game when the Bengals—the home team, no less—could have hit the gas on both offense and defense and claw back from a seven-point deficit, they caved. A moment worth seizing was dropped, like a pass to Greg Little.

According to Bengals.com's Geoff Hobson, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said that the team needed "better play in critical times" late against the Steelers. This is true.

But what the Bengals need now is more than just coachspeak platitudes—they need to make a statement on the football field.

Can the Bengals strike fear with a rushing average of 4.1 yards per carry? Are quarterbacks intimidated by the team's 32nd-ranked 1.2 sacks per game? What's so scary about a team whose dominant narrative is a quarterback who runs hot and cold and cannot keep his wits about him in games that matter?

The Bengals have a chance to change the story in their final three games. Two divisional contests and a meeting with one of the AFC's best teams represent a true trial by fire.

The Browns sacked Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck three times, defended 12 of his passes and hit him 13 times. The Broncos offense is averaging a fourth-best 29.6 points per game and 33.7 at home. The Steelers can both run and pass the ball effectively and are the team closest to the Bengals in the AFC North race.

Everything is at stake for the Bengals, and they need to start playing like it.

With a remaining schedule like theirs, and with the AFC North still quite close, coasting into the playoffs isn't an option. Whether or not the Browns, Broncos or Steelers fear the Bengals right now, Cincinnati needs to give them reason to be afraid once they take the field.

Being good isn't good enough for the Bengals right now. They must be a dominant team—one that strives for wins, not one that gives up in the fourth quarter of a close game as it did on Sunday.

Without a killer instinct, the Bengals aren't going to make it far into January, if they get there at all.