The Cincinnati Bengals are sitting at a lousy 3-5 record, after starting the season 3-1 after the 1st 4. What has happened to the big cats from Ohio? They were scoring 28/ game, and were moving the ball all over the field; all was looking on as to the elevation of the next big thing in the AFC North. Then they got beat by the Dolphins, 17-13 in Cincinnati, and things have gone downhill since, scoring only 19/game, and giving up 27/game.

They are stinking it up at home at 1-3 and 1-3 vs their own division, which we all distinguish is always an enormously important spot to win your games, in case of the dreaded tie for the division.

They have hit a serious slump that has crushed this team, and their season is swiftly creeping away into oblivion, after such a promising beginning. Let alone, the fact of them going 9-7 in 2011, and making the playoffs, they were considered by many to be a potential heir apparent to the Steelers and on the heels of the Baltimore Ravens.

They were ready to show the NFL and all of the doubters that they weren’t a fluke last season, and were serious contenders, but instead have fallen flat. Including some bad losses, again in their own division, losing to the Cleveland Browns 34-24 where they had 4 turnovers and just 76 yards on the ground, not good, especially against a team that gives up 132/gm on the ground.

What’s the problem, Andy Dalton is a sophomore this season, and we all know about the sophomore slumps that hit so many QBs. Last year Dalton threw just 7 ints to 11 ints after the identical amount of games last year, and he has also turned the ball over 13 times, in 2012, including 2 fumbles. Tricky season, that sophomore seasons is. The QB position must be played at a high level to be successful in the NFL; it’s been proven time and time again. Even if a QB isn’t top 5 material, he needs to have that hot streak, that leadership assault to play remarkable when the chips are down, and unfortunately for the Bengals, Andy hasn’t been doing that.

Can they make a move late in the season? Can they make a hard run at the end to try and grab a wild card slot? The AFC certainly is not that tough when it comes to big win teams, but can they get to 9 wins, which is quite possible the number that will only be needed to grab a 6th seed, maybe even just 8.

It’s expected to be more than just Dalton, of course; maybe they need to take a deeper look, perhaps at Marvin Lewis, in his 10th year as the coach for the Bengals. Lewis only has a 72-79-1 record as the Bengals coach. He’s 0-3 in playoff games and yet he's gotten a contract extension through 2014. In a league where coaches are dumped aside like old coffee grinds after 5 bad games, it seems, his situation has always puzzled me.

The Bengals have had a long history of being a team that was either terrible or a team on the come, ready to make the next step into a real playoff contender. 2012 seems to have gotten away from them, I was a firm advocate in the young dangerous combo of A.J. Green, Andy Dalton, and the addition of “the Law Firm”, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, and fell into the believer mode. Looks like the Bengals will be looking more towards the 2013 draft and adding still yet something else that the team needs.

Written by Mike Anthony of VegasTopDogs.com