Where Bengals sit in power rankings entering Week 8

Current rank: 20

Last week’s rank: 22

What Eric Edholm had to say: “If the Bengals were going to drag their way out of a 1-4 start to their season, the defense (and, to a lesser extent, the special teams) needed to improve by leaps and bounds. That’s just what happened over the past two contests — which, funny enough, have marked the two least-impressive offensive performances of the season, keeping Cincinnati’s streak of not playing a complete game in all three phases alive. But another win’s another win, and the Bengals showed some toughness Sunday, earning their first division victory of the season, and in a city where they hadn’t triumphed since 2017. The Browns outgained the Bengals by more than 100 yards despite having to play three quarterbacks, and they could have beaten Cincinnati had they not committed 10 penalties, missed two kicks (on a field-goal try and extra-point attempt) and allowed a 100-yard TD return by Charlie Jones to open the game.”