Cincinnati Bengals Look Nearly Unstoppable in Pursuit of AFC Playoff Bye

After an incredible 8-0 run to start the 2015 season, the Cincinnati Bengals followed up a bogeyman-reviving Monday Night Football pratfall with a heartbreaking road loss against the contending Arizona Cardinals.

Against the St. Louis Rams on Sunday, though, the Bengals played every bit like the juggernaut they were through the first two-and-a-half months of the season. Any worries Bengals fans might have had about an Atlanta Falcons-like tailspin were erased by a 60-minute, no-doubt performance by quarterback Andy Dalton, tight end Tyler Eifert and the 43 other active Bengals.

"We played how we needed to play," Dalton told Fox Sports' Tony Siragusa on-air after the game. "After two losses in a row, we wanted to come out and get a win. I'm happy for this team that we were able to do what we needed to do."

That they did: Dalton, whose miserable prime-time performance was an undoing of everything he and the offense had done over the first nine weeks, completed 74 percent of his passes for an impressive average of 8.6 yards per attempt. He also threw three touchdown passes against just his sixth interception of the season in the 31-7 victory.

Of course, he and the offense didn't do it alone. The Bengals defense intercepted Rams quarterback Nick Foles three times, with Leon Hall taking one back for a score.

"The pick-six really helped us too," Dalton told Siragusa. "It kinda gave us momentum and put the game away, which is nice."

Though Dalton had opened up the second half with what he called a "stupid turnover," a Geno Atkins sack stalled the ensuing Rams drive. Dalton immediately hit tailback Giovani Bernard for a 45-yard gain and then two plays later found receiver A.J. Green for an 18-yard touchdown.

That put the Bengals up 24-7, and Hall's pick-six would prove to be the game's final score. Talk about mentally tough: The Bengals responded to a potentially fatal Dalton mistake with a lightning-fast barrage of game-changing plays by many of their biggest superstars.

With 12:16 left in the third quarter, the Rams had a chance to drive for a score that would cut the Bengals' lead to three points—and just 6:56 later, the game was over.

Frank Victores/Associated Press

The Rams are hardly a juggernaut, of course, but they're a classic trap team: a plucky squad with a dangerous defense and a habit of playing up to its competition. In fact, one of the Rams' four wins came against the very Cardinals squad who'd edged the Bengals a week prior.

There was no trap. There was no letdown. Dalton and Company opened up strong with another Green touchdown on their opening possession, and the defense never let the Rams make a game of it.

Now the Bengals sit at 9-2 and will hold on to at least a two-game lead over the rest of the AFC North. Had the season ended last week, a tiebreaker over the Denver Broncos would have given the Bengals the No. 2 seed—and an all-important bye into the divisional round of the AFC playoff bracket.

Looking at the schedule, it's hard to see these composed, balanced, high-powered Bengals even being threatened by the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers or Baltimore Ravens, who were a collective 8-22 coming into Week 12. Slotting those games into the "W" column puts the Bengals at 12-2.

The Bengals host the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 14—but even if the Steelers upset the Bengals in Cincinnati, that'll only be the Bengals' third loss all year. The Steelers would have to be perfect—including beating the Seattle Seahawks in Week 12, in progress at the time of this writing—and need help to upend Cincinnati.

The only remaining team that could truly bump the Bengals out of hosting a playoff game is the Broncos. At the time of this writing, they have to get through the undefeated New England Patriots, the Steelers and then a Week 16 showdown with the Bengals themselves.

After trouncing the Rams, the cruising Bengals are all but a lock to finish with no more than four losses—and a victory over either the Steelers or Broncos should guarantee both the AFC North and a No. 2 seed.

The only question is: Even if the Bengals open the postseason with a second-round home game, will Dalton finally be able to capitalize on the opportunity?