NFL Streak Watch, Cincinnati Bengals's Run Hits 5

Every result in NFL feeds a streak somewhere, and a few of them have now grown big enough to deserve names. Everything below comes straight off the results; nothing fancier than counting.

There are ten clubs carrying streaks of three games or longer at the moment, which tells you something about how streaky this stretch of the calendar has been.

The win-column crowd

Cincinnati Bengals have won five straight, the longest active run in the league. Winning streaks change how a club carries itself, every bounce feels earned, every close game feels like it belongs to them until somebody proves otherwise.

Behind them, Buffalo Bills have quietly won 5 in a row.

San Francisco 49ers join the party at 3 straight.

Stuck in the barrel

Houston Texans cannot find the exit: five consecutive losses and counting. The schedule keeps coming regardless, which is either mercy or cruelty depending on the next opponent.

Miami Dolphins are on a slide of their own at 4 straight losses.

Indianapolis Colts have lost 3 straight themselves, in case anyone at the cold end needed company.

The board

For the record, here is everything currently running at three-plus:

One more thing

A 5-game run is long enough that it stops being a footnote and starts being the lead, expect it to come up in every broadcast until it ends.

Streaks end, that is the one thing every single one of them does. They tell you where a team has been, loudly, and nothing at all about where the next game is going.