10 reasons

[Monkeyfeng06]

10 reasons

Thin Lizzy sang it in 1976, that same banal Bicentennial summer of "Afternoon Delight," and now Bengaldom is thinking the same thing Thursday.

"The Boys Are Back in (George) Town."

So are the predictions. As the Bengals get their room keys and weights, and the Mike and Marvin Welcome, here are 10 reasons why they should finish 10-6.

1. The Schedule: OK, the Bengals are 8-11 since the day they clinched the AFC North on Dec. 18, 2005. And three of the first four games are against Steve McNair, Matt Hasselbeck, Tom Brady and their combined career record of 206-115 (.642 winning percentage). And five of the first six games are against '06 playoff teams.

But three of those games are at home. Plus, the last seven games of the season and eight of the last 10 are against teams that didn't have winning records in '06. Plus, the combined '06 schedule of the teams they play on the road (where they are 16-16 under Marvin Lewis) is 63-65. At home (where they are 19-13 in Marvin Gardens), the record is 68-60.

2. Carson Palmer: Yes, he completed just 52 percent of his passes in the last three games. But when he absolutely had to score points on the last drive in the last two weeks with everything on the line, he did and how tough is that in this league? The miscues were so big and so costly that it obscured Palmer's coming of age as not only a big-time player but

[Monkeyfeng06]

LET THE SEASON BEGIN!!!

[PhilipNelsonFan]

I'm a huge advocate of reasons 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8. The rest I'll wait and see on (especially the one about Ahmad Brooks).

[Buck4Life]

The schedule alone should make it possible. Last season we had one of the toughest schedules, especially down the stretch. This season we are prjected to have one of the easiest and as said getting easier as it goes.