NFL Heat Check
NFL Heat Check: Cincinnati Bengals Are Scorching (5-0 Last 5)
Published
Ten games is not a season, but it is a mood, and moods decide a lot of games. The current mood around NFL: Cincinnati Bengals keep winning, Miami Dolphins keep losing, and everybody else lives somewhere in the weather between.
Who's hot
Nobody is playing better than Cincinnati Bengals right now. The record says 5-0 over their last 5; the points column says even more, a +57 margin that works out to 25.2 scored and 13.8 allowed a night.
The chase belongs to Buffalo Bills, who have gone 5-0 with a +55 margin of their own.
Baltimore Ravens (4-1) round out the warm end of the ledger.
Some context helps: across every club in the sample, scoring sits at 20.1 points per game right now. Cincinnati Bengals are beating the league's own pace by 5.1 a game.
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.
Indianapolis Colts (0-1-4) share the cold row, for whatever comfort that provides.
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.
By the numbers
For the fuller picture, the five best recent records in the league:
| 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 |
The fine print
Records fib a little and points margins fib less. When the two columns disagree about a team, trust the margin, it is the slower liar.
Next up on the slate: Cincinnati Bengals against Pittsburgh Steelers. Check back after that one goes final.