The Bengals end their long season with a win. At least they ended with a win streak but still fell way short of most fans’ expectations. They weren’t picked by many experts to do too much this year but I think many fans knew that with their talent, they had a chance to make some noise.

Carson Palmer threw for 316 yards and 3 touchdowns (he also had 1 interception). 2 of those touchdown passes went to Chad Johnson who broke the Bengals’ single-season receiving record. He ended with 1440 yards and he owned the old mark of 1432 back in 2005.

T. J. Houshmandzadeh grabbed 9 passes to tie Wes Welker for the NFL lead with 112. He had a chance to get to 113 but dropped the last pass thrown his way.

Kenny Watson ran for 69 yards and his seventh rushing touchdown of the season. He’s been a nice surprise this year and is definitely something to give more hope to next season.

<>For the Dolphins, Cleo Lemon threw for 135 yards and a touchdown before getting injured. John Beck came in and threw for 123 yards and a touchdown.  Jesse Chatman had 42 yards rushing and Ted Ginn Jr. added 53 yards receiving and a touchdown.

It’s always good to end the season on a good note, especially after all of the disappointments that this season had. I’m sure there will be some changes on this team and I saw something about Marvin Lewis saying they would need to blow this team up but I don’t think that’s necessary. Several young players got some good experience this year and that will only help next season. With a little more luck health-wise, I think this team can still do well.

Tonight, the New England Patriots will attempt to go undefeated for the regular season. We all know about the history of this feat and I’ve seen several interviews and shows where the topic was about whether or not the Giants should try hard to win the game or rest up for the playoffs.

Most people say the Giants should stand up for the league and try to beat them. The league has been standing up to the Patriots all season and haven’t had much luck yet. I think I’ve only seen one person say that the Giants should rest their players because their focus should be on the playoffs, not this regular season game.

If I were on the Giants team, I would want to play. Sure, you take the chance of getting hurt but if you win, that’s great momentum for the playoffs. And even if you lose in the playoffs, you’ll be remembered as the team that ruined the Patriots undefeated season. I’m sure the Dolphins’ old players might even give them a present.

I was watching ESPN the other day and I believe they were talking with Bill Simmons who said the Giants should play to win tonight because they had no shot at the Super Bowl. I don’t believe the Giants have the best shot at winning the Super Bowl but sometimes teams get hot and you never know. It just seems like a bad way of thinking for the Giants if you ask me. I’d rather win and go into the playoffs on a good note.

Anyway, I hope it’s a good game. I’m sure we’ll see the starters for at least the first half but if the Patriots go up big, the benches will empty quickly.

The Bengals have placed DeDe Dorsey, Eric Ghiaciuc and Madieu Williams on the season-ending injury reserve list. Rudi Johnson will not play and Dexter Jackson is doubtful.

The team has signed RB Quincy Wilson who has played for the Bengals before. And because of all of the injuries, the team will start their two rookie safeties, Marvin White and Chinedum Ndukwe.  This will be a good opportunity to see what they can do.

The Bengals have been banged up all year and are facing the team that will have the first pick in next year’s draft. Still, the Dolphins have hung in and kept several games close and as we’ve all seen this season, no game is a given. The Bengals have been up and down all year but it would be nice to end the season with a win.

Well, it wasn’t the offensive shootout we got last time but the Bengals pulled out a win. The Browns were looking to make it into the playoffs and now have to wait one more week to find out if they’re going or not.

Carson Palmer was 11 of 21 for 115 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Kenny Watson was given much of the workload and he had 30 carries for 130 yards and a touchdown. Rudi Johnson was inactive for the game.

Derek Anderson was 29 of 48 for 251 yards, 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Jamal Lewis ran for 92 yards and Braylon Edwards hauled in 8 catches for 52 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Bengals were just playing for pride, wanting to end their season with a couple of wins. They’re halfway there and will look to close out their season with another win next week.

I’ve seen articles and posts about whether Marvin Lewis should be fired. Let’s face it, this team stinks and they have not played anywhere near their potential. But is that Lewis’ fault?

I’ve gone back and forth with myself about it. On one hand, Lewis should not be held responsible for all of the injuries and suspensions this team has been hit with. Maybe he’s just done the best he could do with the players he’s had to work with.

On the other hand, he’s drafted several of these players so maybe he should get a little of the blame. Maybe he just hasn’t been hard enough on them and some of these things could have been prevented. Regardless of who is playing each week, it’s his job to get his team prepared and to get them to play hard. I don’t know if we’ve seen that. There have been several games where they just couldn’t have been trying their hardest. With the exception of a couple of weeks, the team’s play has just been sloppy. Special teams has been awful, tackling is terrible and the defense has been up and down (granted, they’ve been hit with the most injuries on that side of the ball too).

But the offense is the one thing the team had to be excited about and they just haven’t been very exciting. Again, there have been a couple of games where the offense seemed to click but for the most part, something has just looked off.

So I don’t know where that leaves Lewis. I like him but I want the team to have the best chance for success. If that means getting a new coach, I guess I’d be fine with that. But who are they really going to get? I don’t know if anyone out there is any better than Lewis. Maybe they can really address things this offseason and get things turned around. But if Lewis stays and next year goes anything like this year, I’m pretty sure it would be his last year in Cincinnati.

What do you think? Let me know who you think should coach the Bengals, whether it be Lewis or someone else.

Rudi Johnson is out for this week’s game against the Browns. Kenny Watson and DeDe Dorsey will see more action.

If this game is anything like the last one between the two, there might not be many running plays anyway. I don’t think we can expect to see that kind of shootout again though.

The Browns are making a playoff run and need a win to stay alive so the Bengals can try to pick up a win for respect and to try and ruin the Browns’ playoff hopes.

It should be a fun game to watch but last week should have been fun too and the Bengals lost. You just don’t know with this team. I know the older players on the team want to go out with two wins because this might be their last games as a Bengal. There is a possibility for several moves this offseason.

The 49ers had the NFL’s worst offense but they looked pretty good against the Bengals. They were even starting a third-string QB making his first career NFL start. So most Bengals fans were practically drooling over this one. But things didn’t go as some of us expected.

Shaun Hill was 21 for 28 and threw for 197 yards and 1 touchdown. He also ran for a touchdown.  The 49ers did run a lot of short routes but the Bengals couldn’t seem to stop them. And when they weren’t passing for yards, Frank Gore was running for them. In a down season, especially compared to last year, Gore rushed for 138 yards.

For the Bengals, Carson Palmer threw for 251 yards and a touchdown. The team was back to having no running game as they got 61 total rushing yards. Chris Henry made his only catch of the night count, hauling in a 52 yard touchdown reception.

So the Bengals are assured of their first losing season under Marvin Lewis. As bad as it’s been this year, there is hope for next ye