Eleven Warriors

There's a reason they didn't beat any teams over .500 last year.  They're trending up, but it could be a long year with their schedule.

The Bengals are the reason I gave up on pro football in general.

They should have fired their coach years ago. This guy has more down years than up. I don't see why they keep him, he hasn't won or done anything to keep his job this long. They have had some decent drafts and decent teams(on paper).

I was actually pleasantly surprised with the Bengals' offense: the law firm (Green-Ellis) at running back showed a vast improvement over Cedric Benson's two-yard piledrives, our receivers (the ones not named Gresham or Green) looked solid, and Dalton played a pretty smart game.  Though, his deep-ball passing was bad--if this was a focal point in the offseason, he's got a long way to go.

Keep in mind, the Bengals' defense (and offense, for that matter) is pretty bruised and battered: Dre Kirkpatrick (who probably has the best man coverage skills) has been injured all preseason and should return soon; Carlos Dunlap--an absolute monster of a pass rusher (probably the equal to pro-bowl Tackle Geno Atkins)--was out as well and should be returning next week; those two losses alone account for the Bengals' relative inability to stop the pass, especially when you couple it with defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer's penchant for all-or-nothing blitzes.  Expect their returns to facilitate overall defensive improvement, but the pass coverage will most likely be an issue all season, hence the need for blitzes to rush the quarterback.

I watched almost the whole game (couldn't bare to watch anymore after Eddy Reed's pick six, besides it was basically garbage time afterwards), and I can say it wasn't just a problem of coverage--Flacco was seriously on his game.  Multiple times he was hitting guys Aaron-Rodgers-style, which loosely translates to "it doesn't matter how well you cover your man, this pass is indefensable."  I didn't really see a lot of busted coverages, though the Bengals need to learn how to cover tight ends, because they've been an achilles heel for years.  

Bottom line, we got beat like a drum to probably one of the NFL's top three teams--a team that was playing at home in a raucus enviornment in their season opener on Monday night.  I'll also mention this: the Bengals dropped two interceptions, and the Ravens' second touchdown was not a catch by any means--the scab refs completely blew that call.

Would any of those things changed the end result? No.  But the game would have been a Hell of a lot closer.

When Mike Brown retires or dies I will pay attention to the Bengals, until then it's a total waste of time and energy.

@kfleck, unfortunately, the Brown Family will still own and run the team.  I don't have much faith that things will change much.