NFL Heat Check
Team Heat Check: Cincinnati Bengals Run Hot, Miami Dolphins Run Cold (NFL)
Published
Form is the story the standings tell slowly and the last ten games tell fast. Right now the fast version of NFL is easy to summarize: Cincinnati Bengals are rolling, Miami Dolphins are reeling, and the gap between those two feelings is enormous.
The warm end of the table
Cincinnati Bengals own the league's best recent ledger at 5-0, and the +57 points margin underneath it says the record is earned. Per game the numbers read 25.2 for and 13.8 against, a gap that does not happen by accident across 5 games.
Buffalo Bills are the closest thing to company at 5-0, with a +55 points margin that says the record is no fluke.
Keep Baltimore Ravens in the conversation too, at 4-1 over their last 5.
For scale, the league as a whole is averaging 20.1 points a game over this window, Cincinnati Bengals are clearing that bar by 5.1 a night all on their own.
Who's cold
At the bottom of the temperature map sit Miami Dolphins: 0-5 in their last 5, -77 on points margin. That is about 15.4 a game in the wrong direction, and no lineup shuffle fixes it overnight.
They have company at the cold end: Indianapolis Colts, 0-1-4 over the same window.
The middle of the table is where the real congestion lives: Kansas City Chiefs (2-1-2) and Seattle Seahawks (2-1-2) are separated by almost nothing, and one good weekend reshuffles the whole neighborhood.
The board
Here is the warm half of the form table, last ten games for every club:
| Team | Last 10 | Points +/- |
|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Bengals | 5-0 (5 gm) | +57 |
| Buffalo Bills | 5-0 (5 gm) | +55 |
| Baltimore Ravens | 4-1 (5 gm) | +76 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 4-1 (5 gm) | +66 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 4-1 (5 gm) | +46 |
Worth remembering
One reading tip before you go: points margin travels better than record. A fat margin with a modest record usually means the wins are coming; the reverse usually means they are not.