Matt’s Take: Bengals' season is likely cooked

By Matthew McAdow
HCP columnist

After a devastating loss to the Eagles that I don’t even want to recap, Cincinnati now finds themselves at 3-5 with playoff hopes dwindling every week. The same disappointment Sunday after Sunday continues, and it’s time to come to the realization that the Super Bowl window for this team is closed.  

If Cincinnati wants to climb back into the race, they have 9 games left to prove they belong. To get to 10 wins, if that is the true number, they need to go 7-2, which at this point, seems unlikely. The remaining schedule includes the Raiders, Ravens, Chargers, Steelers, Cowboys, Titans, Browns, Broncos and Steelers.  

With Tee Higgins out once again, it might truly be time to think about dealing him if Cincinnati fails to beat the Raiders, as Cincinnati can’t pay him premium money when he is rarely on the field.  

Another week, another rant, here we go with the things I am tired of:

• Calling a play dead quickly any other time, but allowing the “Tush Push” to continue forever until they cross the line. Cincinnati forced a fumble on a play that wasn’t even close to dead.
    
• Zac Taylor going for it on 4th down and throwing the ball behind the line of scrimmage.
    
• The Cincinnati secondary.
    
• Evan McPherson and the field goal unit costing this team momentum swings week after week. The missed field goal changed the entire trajectory of the game. 
    
• Getting down 10-plus points and the defense just giving up. There has to be more fight than that; go make a play.
    
• Nobody other than Hendrickson getting pressure on the quarterback.
    
• Tee Higgins hurting his hamstring/quad every few weeks. 
    
• Political ads during the game. Getting past election time will be the best early Christmas gift ever. The last thing I want to see is Bernie Moreno during a football game attempting to persuade me that Sherrod Brown likes pineapple on pizza. 

Random Facts and Comments
    
• Tee Higgins has missed seven games due to hamstring/quad issues and has left four games early due to a hamstring/quad injury. Cincinnati has only won 2 of those games.
    
• What happened to wanting politics out of sports? Just this week, I saw many people who wanted players to “shut up and dribble” thrilled to see athletes like Joey Bosa and college players supporting a movement they like during the game. You can’t have it both ways. 
    
• I can’t turn on the Yankees and Dodgers series. I just can’t watch it. Yes, they have many of the best players in baseball, but I can’t watch it. 
    
• Cincinnati needs the Reds to go all-in this year and really get the people excited before March. You can’t go into the Reds season with Steer, Benson, Fraley, Fairchild and Hinds with hopes of contending. The recent news of McLain trying the outfield is good news, but this team is desperate for a power bat.  
    
• With West Virginia men’s basketball looking to appear less than average, it’s going to be a long wait for me until March-Opening Day. The Netflix account will unfortunately get more use than usual this winter.