Bengals Disrespected in Major Week 3 Power Rankings

The power ranking system at Pro Football Focus may need a redo. Cincinnati is somehow ranked 15th on the site's latest offering, which the site states is "derived from the quality of each team as defined by Point Spread Team Ratings."

That's behind teams like the Texans (who they just handily beat on the road 20-6) and 1-1 outfits like the Bears and Packers. It's some more bulletin-board material for a locker room that is far from satisfied with just starting well at 2-0.

Cincinnati won as a team this past Sunday and is trying to do that again in its first division matchup on Sunday in Pittsburgh.

"I thought the third quarter, their defense did a great job, and special teams gave us really good field position to where we're able to go put 13 points on the board on first three drives, and so I was proud of that fact, and then the game turned into a run the clock game towards the end, and our guys handled that well," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said on Wednesday.

The defense was a huge part of that, allowing the lowest point total of the Taylor era and no touchdowns for the first time in a game since the 2022 season.

An identity is forming for Al Golden's group.

“I think they have a mindset of what they want to be and what their brand is, and I'm going to let it play out,” Golden said to Jay Morrison and more this week. “I think they play like they love each other. I think they play with energy and enthusiasm. I think they're very much a next-play mentality unit. And what I mean by that is they get a big play to get in the fringe or in the red, and we just go and play the next play.

“So I think there's unit cohesion there in terms of their pre-snap communication and the awareness of formations and backfield sets and things that we have practiced. Again, we're so early in the season in terms of me identifying what I see, but I think those are some things that I think would describe what we're doing right now.”

Almost every site besides PFF has Cincinnati as a roughly top-seven team in power rankings, let alone top 10.

Check out the full ranking below:

Our Power Rankings are derived from the quality of each team as defined by Point Spread Team Ratings pic.twitter.com/7XbFVZKNA4
— PFF (@PFF) September 22, 2026

For more on the Bengals, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and be sure to check us out on your favorite audio platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon. Bookmark BengalsTalk.com for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns, and more! We're a one-stop shop for all things Cincinnati Bengals! Join the 67,000+ Bengals fans who subscribe to us on YouTube.

Add us as a preferred source on Google