Bengals Are Still an Unbeaten Juggernaut, but Are They Built for January?

For the third time in franchise history the Cincinnati Bengals have started a season with six straight wins. History can tell cruel, unforgiving truths, and looking back on the previous two flawless Bengals starts after six weeks shows both how meaningless and how meaningful early wins in bunches are come January.

In 1975 the Bengals were also sizzling and remained unbeaten after six weeks. Then they were bounced immediately from the playoffs, losing in the divisional round.

Then in 1988 the early-season script was identical. A 6-0 start and 12 wins overall led to a division title. That time, though, there was no floundering in January, as Cincinnati advanced to the Super Bowl and narrowly lost by four points.

The 2015 version of an undefeated Bengals team is clearly hoping for a repeat of the latter history, excluding the Super Bowl loss.

But no matter how many consecutive wins they pile up or how long quarterback Andy Dalton leads an offense that’s among the NFL’s juggernaut units, the Bengals will still be followed by more recent history throughout the regular season—a team that’s had double-digit-win seasons for three straight years still hasn’t won even a single postseason game since 1991.

That includes four playoff losses with Dalton under center and six during Marvin Lewis’ tenure as head coach.

Annually, the most basic praying sports-fan question—is this THE year?—takes on a different meaning in Cincinnati. There it reads something like this: Is this the year our team stops raising expectations before viciously crushing souls?

The answer so far is a cautious “yes” because a healthy and fully functioning Bengals offense is deep—scary deep. And it showed Sunday throughout a 34-21 win over the Buffalo Bills, especially during a fourth-quarter game-icing drive.

As ESPN.com’s Coley Harvey noted, five core Bengals pass-catchers were involved in a drive that concluded with Dalton's touchdown pass to tight end Tyler Eifert:

The primary difference between these 2015 Bengals and previous firework-igniting rosters lies in that depth.

Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green has dazzled us with his Spider-Man catches for now four full seasons, and during that time, he’s averaged 1,218.5 receiving yards per year. Between 2011 and 2014 only three other receivers had more yards than Green’s 4,874, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com.

But it didn’t matter because having a uniquely skilled top-tier wideout means little when he’s not supported.

Now Green is flanked by Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu, two receivers who have missed a combined 28 games over the past three seasons. Jones accounted for much of that training-room time when he sat out 2014 with an ankle injury. His year on the shelf came after a breakout sophomore NFL campaign, when his blend of speed (4.46 40-yard dash) and athleticism resulted in 10 receiving touchdowns.

Dalton played an entire season without a receiver who was on the other end for just over a third of his touchdown passes in 2013. Fast forward back to current times, and a healthy Jones is blazing away, establishing new single-game highs.

His nine receptions for 92 yards Sunday against the Bills were part of an afternoon when Eifert caught his sixth touchdown pass this year, which leads his position. That's the same Eifert whose season was only eight snaps longer than Jones’ in 2014, according to Pro Football Focus. He suffered an elbow injury in Week 1, and suddenly Dalton was operating without two field-stretching options who both have wide end-zone wingspans.

Eifert and Jones may be two of Dalton’s favorite touchdown targets, but the widespread distribution of scoring glory shows just how much talent is driving an offense that entered Week 6 averaging 421.4 yards per game (second). Five Bengals pass-catchers have now hauled in at least one touchdown reception.

A deep arsenal of weapons has powered the Bengals’ steamrolling during the three games they’ve won by 13-plus points. More importantly, the options available to Dalton have also pushed comebacks or second-half surges to pile on insurance points.

In Week 5 Cincinnati clawed from behind with 17 fourth-quarter points against the Seattle Seahawks to force overtime and eventually win. This is when you remember that scoring any points ever against Seattle often feels impossible, as the Seahawks defense allowed 15.9 points per game in 2014.

Then against Buffalo the Bengals held only a three-point lead at halftime. The margin for error to begin the third quarter was thin. How did Dalton respond? Oh, just with two straight touchdown drives, each beginning in a separate area code.

Dalton’s 14 touchdown passes through six games ties a franchise record, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

He’s also chucked only two interceptions and is averaging 9.1 yards per throw. His per-attempt rate has fallen just slightly from Week 4, when Dalton became the first quarterback of an undefeated team since 2000 to be averaging 10-plus yards with each release, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

His effectiveness is a product of an offense that’s healthy and now has two key supporting pieces who were missing from 2014. With Eifert and Jones rounding out a threatening unit, the Bengals are one of only four teams averaging 30-plus points per game.

They’re deep, and everything is aligning for an equally deep playoff run. But fall optimism has ended in winter tears far too many times before.