The Cincinnati Bengals (9-4) had 11 penalties for 85 yards and got less than 100 yards passing in their loss to the Minnesota Vikings (11-2) on Sunday.  Carson Palmer was almost shut down, throwing for only 94 yards on 15/25 passes.  He did find the endzone once when he hit Chad Ochocinco for a 15-yard touchdown pass.  Ochocinco didn’t do much else though, finishing the game with only 3 catches for 27 yards.  They did get 96 yards on 16 carries from Cedric Benson, but he failed to find the endzone.  For the first time in his career, Benson reached 1,000 yards in a season in this game.

On defense the Bengals let the Vikings build a 10-0 lead, but they did a pretty good job against Brett Favre.  Favre found the endzone once in the second quarter, but the Bengals held him in check most of the game.  He finished with 192 passing yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception on 17/30 passes.  The Bengals did their best against Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson, but they could not keep him out of the endzone.  Peterson rushed for 97 yards on 26 carries (3.7 avg) which is well under his season average (4.5), but he scored twice.  With all of the penalties and the lack of execution on offense, combined with the defense giving up a season high 30 points, the Bengals didn’t give themselves much of a chance in this one.

This may be the top game of the week, as the Cincinnati Bengals (9-3) are on the road facing off against Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings (10-2).  The Bengals have won five of their last six, but they have not been playing the best football.  Most of their opponents have been pretty weak lately, and they have not been winning by large margins.  They lost to Oakland a few weeks ago and beat the Browns and Lions by 10 or less points.  The Bengals seem to play down to their opponents a little bit, so hopefully they will play up to their opponent this time.  Carson Palmer needs to limit his interceptions, but he cannot shy away from going for the big play.  Chad Ochocinco (or should I say Hachi Go) has been having a big year and has been making a lot of those big plays that will be needed in this one.  Cedric Benson should be the first option though, as the running back looked great in his return from a hip injury and Palmer is going to need some relief from the Vikings aggressive pass rush.

The Bengals defense is going up against a very well rounded offense.  They have a great quarterback in Brett Favre and a great running back in Adrian Peterson.  The Bengals defense has been great, holding teams to under 300 yards of total offense on average, but if they can get Brett Favre  to force the issue they can get some interceptions like the Cardinals did against them.  Also, as good as Adrian Peterson is, he leads running backs in fumbles, so the Bengals may have some turnover opportunities.  This should be a very exciting and close game, but the Vikings are such a strong team at home that I have to go with them.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Cincinnati Bengals 23, Minnesota Vikings 30

The Bengals have placed rookie TE Chase Coffman on the Injured Reserve List with bone spurs.  The Bengals took Coffman in the third round out of Missouri with the thought that he could fill the black hole they have had at TE for a couple of years now.  But, he has been a complete bust so far as he was not active for ONE game in his rookie year.

The Bengals have signed 28-year old DT Shaun Smith.  Smith played in 11 games for the Browns last season and he made 36 tackles and forced 1 fumble.  Smith has played in 60 games in his 6-year NFL career and he has made 144 tackles, defensed 4 passes, has 2 sacks and he has forced 2 fumbles.  Smith will be a welcome addition coming back to the Bengals who he has played for already in his career so he could get a lot of playing time right off the bat with Peko out of action.

UPDATE:  In a surprise move the Bengals have waived Smith before he even got to play in a game.

UPDATE II:  The Bengals have re-signed Shaun Smith.

The Bengals have lost starting DT Domata Peko for a couple of weeks due to a knee scope.  Peko has played in 11 games for the Bengals this season and he has 23 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 pass defensed.  Losing Peko could hurt the Bengals’ run defense but it’s better to get him healthy for the playoffs than risk his injury getting worse so surgery was the right thing to do.

 Cedric Benson returned for the Cincinnati Bengals in their win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday, and the running back was not limited at all.  Benson carried the ball 36 times for 110 yards, helping the Bengals win the time of possession 38 minutes to 21 minutes for the Lions.  Carson Palmer didn’t have a great game, throwing 2 interceptions and losing a fumble, but he and Chad Ochocinco found a lot of success.  Ochocinco had a touchdown and caught 9 passes for a season high 137 yards.

The Bengals defense did a good job not letting the Lions get their passing game going.  They picked off Mathew Stafford twice, and held him to 143 yards on 11/26 passes.  He did have one touchdown pass, but he left the game in the fourth quarter after re-injuring his shoulder.  Daunte Culpepper came in and led the Lions to a touchdown as the Bengals lost some intensity as the game was pretty much over.  They let Kevin Smith go for 75 yards on 16 carries, but with the lead they built and their clock control, they basically took the running game out of the Lions offense in the second half.

The Cincinnati Bengals (8-3) are hosting the Detroit Lions (2-9) Sunday, a team they should crush.  The Lions have a terrible offense and even worse defense.  They have a rookie as their quarterback in Mathew Stafford, who will be playing hurt against the Bengals this week.  That means the Lions are going to try to get their running game going, but I don’t see them having any success against the Bengals’ strong run defense that only gives up less than 82 rushing yards per contest.

Carson Palmer should have a big game against a Lions’ defense that gives up 281 passing yards on average.  The Bengals are also getting Cedric Benson back, who was the NFL’s leading rusher when he went out with a hip injury.  The Lions are better at stopping the run than the pass, but that’s not saying much.  They give up well over 100 yards per game, so the Bengals offense should be able to score a lot of points Sunday.  This should be an easy win for them.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Cincinnati Bengals 35, Detroit Lions 10