The Cincinnati Bengals aren't headed for the playoffs, and I'll be sad when their season ends. They've become the perfect fantasy carnival for 2024, a loaded offense that can't stop anything on defense.

Pittsburgh marched into Cincinnati and beat the Bengals on Sunday, 44-38. For Cincinnati fans, the game felt like a rerun. The Bengals racked up 375 yards of offense and 25 first downs but it wasn't enough — because Pittsburgh's offense went for 28 first downs and 520 yards of offense. For one day, Arthur Smith had Bill Walsh mojo with the Pittsburgh play sheet.

Joe Burrow threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns in the loss (23.16 fantasy points), and most of the Cincinnati production went to the skill players fantasy managers need. Ja'Marr Chase (6-86-1 for 17.6 points), Tee Higgins (5-69-1 for 15.4 points) and Chase Brown (100 total yards and 17.5 points)) all had touchdowns. Half of Burrow's targets went to Chase or Higgins. Brown had 12 carries for the day, Khalil Herbert had just one. We love this type of narrow ball distribution.

I wasn't sure if the Steelers would aggressively target Cincinnati's lousy secondary, but they did. Russell Wilson rang up 414 passing yards and three touchdowns (27.86 fantasy points), gobbling 10.9 yards per attempt. His 38 pass attempts were a season high. The Pittsburgh target tree was wider than we'd like, but George Pickens (3-74-1 for 14.9 points) still got home and Pat Freiermuth (6-68-1 for 15.8 points) was handy if you needed him. And tailback Najee Harris continued his underrated season, handling 22 touches, good for 129 total yards and a score.

It's a downer to note that the rematch between these teams doesn't come until Week 18 — a week after most fantasy leagues are concluded. But let's bookmark the rest of the Cincinnati schedule for fantasy purposes. The Bengals travel to Dallas and Tennessee, then close the fantasy playoffs with home games against Cleveland and Denver. The over has hit in nine of 12 Cincinnati games, despite numbers that are routinely in the high 40s or even over 50. I see no reason why that trend will slow down.

Commanders continue to provide fantasy fireworks

The NFC's best version of a carnival might be in Washington, where the Commanders ranked fifth in offensive DVOA entering this week, but just 28th in defensive DVOA. Jayden Daniels was back in form in a 42-19 trouncing of Tennessee, throwing for three touchdowns and running in a fourth. That pushed Daniels to the top of the overall scoring leaderboard with SNF and MNF left to play, scoring 28.64 points in Yahoo default scoring.

The two primary Washington pass catchers came home — Terry McLaurin continued his career season (8-73-2 for 23.3 fantasy points) and Zach Ertz (3-35-1 for 11 points) is still handy in his age-34 season. The backfield was more of a platoon approach, but Brian Robinson (16-103-1 for 17.4 points) and Chris Rodriguez Jr. (13-94-1) both punched in scores, the Rodriguez spike a garbage-time special. Running backs love those fourth-quarter carries, running through and around tired, disengaged defenders.

Washington sits in Week 14, then finishes the season with three potentially fun games: at New Orleans, then home with Philadelphia and Atlanta. Mark your calendars.

Most of the Tennessee angles were misses, other than touchdown hero Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (3-61-2 for 19.6 points), who's now scored eight times in eight games. His season stats read like a glorious misprint — 20 catches, 365 yards, eight touchdowns. Because NWI has seen snap shares greater than 90% since the DeAndre Hopkins trade, we've been able to shoehorn him into a bunch of sleeper columns. Maybe Westbrook-Ikhine will graduate next week, when managers need to navigate the final bye-week challenge (six teams don't play) of the season.

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The sad endgame for Kirk Cousins

The Falcons worked a curious offseason plan at quarterback, giving Kirk Cousins a bloated contract during the free-agency period and then drafting Michael Penix Jr. in the first round a month later. These days, they probably wish they had skipped Cousins completely.

It was another dud for Cousins in the 17-13 loss to the Chargers — no touchdowns, four picks, a paltry 6.3 YPA, a crummy 40.0 rating. His arm strength is compromised and too many of his decisions are a beat slow. Check out the touchdown he gifted to the Chargers, flipping the lead in the fourth quarter.

Cousins had two glorious days against Tampa Bay this year, charting as QB1 and QB3. But for the rest of the season, his average finishing rank is a lousy 21.6. This is a player who looks cooked, and he's taking down several talented pass catchers with him.

I thought the Chargers might do some receiver pivoting after Monday night's game — Ladd McConkey caught everything, Quentin Johnston couldn't catch a thing — and that's what we saw against the Falcons. McConkey smashed his prop in the first half, en route to a 9-117-0 clinic on 12 targets. Johnston was targeted just four times, returning a paltry 2-12-0 return. I'm going to proactively draft McConkey next year, even if the Chargers bring in an impact receiver. Johnston should be dropped in most standard Yahoo leagues for the balance of 2024, even if the dings McConkey is dealing with (knee, shoulder) turn into anything serious.

Speed Round

• Nobody roots for injuries, but it hasn't been a good year for injury optimism among long-term returnees (is it ever?). Christian McCaffrey is the latest example, mediocre for three weeks and then hurt Sunday night. Jonathon Brooks returned to a secondary role and Nick Chubb has looked anything but explosive, mixing in some touchdowns. Keep this in mind when we hit these types of stories next year. Play for today, gamers.

• Trey McBride's goofy season keeps chugging along — another 12-96-0 day, securing every target. He's now collected 73 catches and 92 targets without a touchdown. This is probably in part a reflection of Kyler Murray struggling in the red area, but a player as good and as busy as McBride has to bust down the goal-line eventually. In the meantime, enjoy your Diontae Johnson scholarship. Hey, at least McBride actually plays. Johnson has been overrated for years, but I have no idea why the Ravens acquired him and subsequently have mothballed him.

• It's adorable that Aaron Rodgers has designs on playing next year because I can't think of who would want him. He's tanking the value of Garrett Wilson. Rodgers looks afraid to get hit, and all too often looks like he's making decisions with an eye towards protecting his quarterback rating (which is still an eyelash under league average). He's still decent at avoiding sacks and picks — again, there's the goal of avoiding contact at all costs — but his YPA is nowhere near the league mean. I mean, it's okay to be compromised as you hit your 42nd birthday. It's just a wonder we expected much at all from Rodgers four months ago.

• Marquez Valdes-Scantling is the New Orleans version of Westbrook-Ikhine — somehow he's scored four touchdowns on just seven catches (10 targets). The MVS scores will always have volatility to them as he's a deep threat, but the Saints need to fill some touches now that unicorn Taysom Hill is probably out for the year.

• Drake Maye impresses every week, despite a pedestrian wide receiver room and a head coach who might be over his head. Maye pushed past 20 fantasy points for the third time Sunday, and remember he didn't even start until Week 6. He's a good athlete, competitive, resourceful. Now the challenge is for the Patriots to actually hit on some receivers in the draft.

• I want to weep when I hear rumors of cold-weather teams dreaming of a new, domed stadium (looking at you, Chicago). Please don't rob us of these glorious snow games. Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, Cleveland, they should always play outdoors. Is nothing sacred? Teams should also recognize what an advantage those elements can be for the home club — the Dolphins and 49ers looked completely out of place when asked to compete in winter elements this week.

• It's not Bryce Young's fault the Panthers lost — he's playing well enough to support fantasy production. Adam Thielen stands as the WR5 (19.9 fantasy points) as we head into Monday. The Eagles are a horrible draw next week, but given that six teams don't play, fantasy managers might need Thielen in a pinch. The schedule is reasonable after that: Dallas, Arizona and the Tampa Bay rematch.