Team Heat Check: Cincinnati Bengals Run Hot, Miami Dolphins Run Cold (NFL)

Every NFL season has a week when the temperature map redraws itself, and this feels like one of them. Cincinnati Bengals have become the team nobody wants to see next on the schedule, while Miami Dolphins are hunting for anything that resembles a good night.

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.

The cold end

Miami Dolphins are the cold front. They have gone 0-5 over their last 5, and the -77 margin underneath means the losses have not even been close, roughly 15.4 points a game the wrong way.

Indianapolis Colts are not far behind on the misery index at 0-1-4.

Do not ignore the middle class, either: Green Bay Packers (3-3) and Kansas City Chiefs (2-1-2) sit close enough that a single hot or cold series flips their order.

At a glance

Here is the warm half of the form table, last ten games for every club:

One more thing

As always, watch where record and points margin tell different stories about the same club. The margin tends to know first.