A few years ago, the Cincinnati Bengals had one of the most potent offenses in the NFL led by a promising young quarterback out of USC in Carson Palmer and had high hopes for future as they seemed like a team destined to dominate the AFC North division for years to come.

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Unfortunately, even though Palmer and company have a few good seasons in between, the Cincinnati Bengals slowly turned into one of the worst teams in the league as they were ravaged by injuries and just couldn’t get things going.

Not since 2005 had the Cincinnati Bengals been to the NFL playoffs, but all that changed last season as Carson Palmer and company were able to lead the team to a 10-6 record and an AFC North division title.

Usually, Pro Bowlers Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco get all the credit when the Cincinnati Bengals win games and actually turn into a force to be reckoned with in the AFC Conference, but last season it was the Bengals defense that the deserved the credit the for their new found success as they were one of the best defenses in the league.

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With the 6th best defensive against the pass (203.1 passing yards per game) and the 7th best defense against the run (98.3 rushing yards per game), the Cincinnati Bengals were a tough team to beat and as if that weren’t a pleasant surprise for Cincinnati, they also were able to turn their running game into one of the best in the league as well with the emergence of running back Cedric Benson.

Ironically enough, the Bengals passing game wasn’t all that impressive last season as they finished 26th in the league in passing yards (180.6 passing yards per game), but their ground game was the 9th best in the NFL with 128.5 rushing yards per game.

This year the Cincinnati Bengals will come into the 2010-2011 NFL regular season with high hopes of winning the extremely competitive AFC North division once again as they will have relatively the same team intact with one key addition on the offensive side of the football in five-time All-Pro wide receiver Terrell Owens.

Even though adding T.O. to an already talented receiving corps in Cincinnati is a step in the right direction for the Bengals as it makes their offense that much more dynamic, the fact that this team will have two virtually uncontrollable personalities in Ochocinco and T.O. could quite possibly be a recipe for disaster.

Hopefully, for the Carson Palmer’s sake, there is enough football to go around in Cincinnati because if there is, the Bengals offense could be amongst the best in the league with two deep threats for Palmer and a solid running attack led by Cedric Benson.

Coming into the regular season, the AFC North division will be competitive as ever as the Baltimore Ravens have also made a considerable addition to their offense in Pro Bowl wideout Anquan Boldin, but if the Cincinnati Bengals defense plays the way it did last season, the team could be
on their way to a second straight division title.

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