Chew on this factoid for a minute.

From 1993-2007, 47 teams lost their season opening game by 20 points or more.  Of those 47 teams, seven were able to right the ship and compile a winning record.

We knew the Rams (38-3 losers to Philadelphia) were bad - they might be the worst team in the NFL.  But, Houston (lost 38-17 to Pittsburgh) was expected to take a step forward this season, and most people were still picking Seattle (34-10 victims of the Bills) to win the NFC West.  This is a really bad sign for both teams.

Interestingly, the theory doesn't really work in the other direction.  Only 31 of the 47 winning teams went on to have a winning season.

We've all heard of the Sports Illustrated cover jinx and the Madden curse. Well there's a new jinx/curse on the block courtesy of a relatively new, yet very popular MMA magazine called FIGHT! The magazine turned into a monthly publication at the beginning of 2008 (it was issued bi-monthly prior to the change). Since the beginning of the year they have put out eight publications. Of those eight, six fighers that made the cover lost their fight that month. Of those six, two lost their titles, one lost the chance to win a title and two lost a chance to move up to the number one contender spot in their weight class.

• February - Brock Lesnar makes the cover and in his first fight in the UFC he loses by submission to Frank Mir
• March - Dan Henderson stepped into the Octagon to take on Anderson Silva to unify the UFC and PRIDE Middleweight titles. He would lose by submission in the second round.
• June - Jens Pulver is recognized on the cover as the "Biggest Threat in the Featherweight Division." He would lose by unanimous decision to the WEC Featherweight Champ, Urijah Faber.
• July - Qinton "Rampage" Jackson is coined as "Unstoppable." And then he went out and lost his title to Forrest Griffin at UFC 86 in July by unanimous decision.
• August - The cover is graced by one of the hottest fighters in the UFC, Roger Huerta. He went into UFC 87 hoping to come out with a win and a possible shot at the Lightweight Title. He would lose by unanimous decision to Kenny Florian that night.
• September - Chuck Liddell, the biggest name in the UFC, if not all MMA, makes the cover. At UFC 88 on 9/6, he took on Rashad Evans. He was knocked out early in the second round in one of the most devastating blows possibly in UFC history. His possible shot at getting the Light Heavyweight Title back was stopped just like that.

Over the next two months, two big fights will take place in the UFC. Anderson Silva will defend his Middleweight title against Patrick Cote in October. Maybe the only thing that can stop Silva would be the FIGHT! Magazine cover jinx! Odds are they will put Cote on the cover though since this is his first shot at a title. If they approach you Cote, run!!! In November Randy Couture will return to the UFC to defend his Heavyweight Title against Brock Lesnar. Since Lesnar already made the cover this year, Couture could be the guy for that issue. If there were two guys that would "break the jinx" it would probably be Silva and Couture.

Anyone who's paid any attention has realized that Carson Palmer has regressed. Since taking the shot from Kimo the Assassin and tearing up his knee, Carson Palmer has simply not been himself. Is he gun shy? Last year's numbers were okay. His INTs were an all-time high of 20 (unacceptable to be an elite QB).

Last year he was hurried and sacked more than he had ever been. So, was he rushing it in fear of getting clobbered again? This year, in preseason, he gets his nose broken. Yesterday, he looked like a deer in the headlights. Compile that with his inability to run from pressure and is Carson quickly becoming Drew Bledsoe (great vision, great arm, lack of mobility makes him antiquated)? First, let me state that shame on the offensive line for letting Carson get hit so much last year. As a fan, I was furious when the Stealers took him out. I wanted to knock some heads together.

When Palmer returned, it should've been a mandate by Levi, Willie, et. al. to make sure that he didn't get hit. But our o-line let him down last year and this year, they're getting even worse. Will the result be Palmer slipping into Klingerdom? I feel bad for the guy and I'm mad as hell at our offensive line! Where's your pride? The QB is YOUR guy. Keeping the QB safe and his uniform clean is YOUR job. What a pity.

We are dealing with team management that would rather reinsert a criminal into the locker room who no one talks to (Henry) than keep around a seasoned vet who is (was) a team leader (Anderson). 

We are dealing with team management who has let the best offensive lineman that this team has seen in at least 15 years slip away (Eric Steinbach). 

We are dealing with team management who has continually shown that they don't have any clue on how to win in this league (Mike 'Turdbox' Brown).  Speaking of which, here's an interesting stat.  The Bengals record before Mike Brown took over the team was hovering right around .500.  To be more specific, the Bengals record was 174-181 before Mikey took over as president, a winning percentage of 49%.  The Bengals record AFTER Mikey took over?  94-162.  A winning percentage of 36.7%.  This is what happens when someone who doesn't know anything about football tries to manage a professional team.

We are also dealing with management who doesn't know how to draft properly. 

For an example, take a look at the Indianapolis Colts and what they've managed to do with thier first round picks from 1994 to 2002 as compared to the Bengals:

1994 - Marshall Faulk (future Hall of Famer)                             1994 - Dan Wilkinson (relative bust)
1995 - Ellis Johnson (avg. 5.1 sacks over 10 years)                  1995 - Ki-Jana Carter (bust)
1996 - Marvin Harrison (future HOF)                                        1996 - Willie Anderson (4x Pro Bowler)
1997 - Tarik Glenn (3x Pro Bowler, played 10 years)                1997 - Reinard Wilson (bust)
1998 - Peyton Manning (future HOF)                                        1998 - Takeo Spikes (2x Pro Bowler...after he left the Bengals)
1999 - Edgerrin James (4x PB, Off. NFL lead rusher 2x)            1999 - Akili Smith (Oh....my....god....)
2000 - Rob Morris (relative bust, played 7 seasons, though       2000 - Peter Warrick (Bust...never caught more than 817 yards in a season)
2001 - Reggie Wayne (one of top 3 WRs in NFL, 2x Pro Bowler) 2001 - Justin Smith (Lead team in sacks 3 of first 5 years with team, now with SF)
2002 - Dwight Freeney(3x PB, NFL sack leader 2004 w/ 16)       2002 - Levi Jones (No notable acheivements)

The difference is staggering.  The Colts have also added players like Bob Sanders, Joseph Addai, Dallas Clark and Anthony Gonzalez in recent years with first round picks, not to mention guys like Ryan Diem, Mike Peterson, Cato June and Antoine Bethea through the draft.  It's really no wonder why the Bengals continue to fail where other teams succeed. 

Does the beginning to this season even really surprise anyone, though?  We are talking about the Bungles here.  They looked awful in the preseason against teams that were giving 75% and the o-line let Carson get his face crushed.  I think Marvin Lewis is a pretty good coach.  Let's face it, he's the best coach we've had since Sam Wyche, bar none.  If we get rid of Marvin, we could EASILY end up with another Dave "Steakhouse" Shula or Bruce "The Spitting Cobra" Coslet.  Marvin is one of only two Bengals head coaches (Forrest Gregg) to have a winning record at this time.  Of course, that's likely to change after this season.