He’s been the subject of great scrutiny over the past couple seasons, but one thing is for certain: You can’t pin the Bengals’ latest loss on Carson Palmer. What remains uncertain is... well, everything else.

Cincinnati lost its first divisional game in its last nine, a stretch dating back to the 2009-09 season before it was broken in the Bengals’ 23-20 defeat in Cleveland this past Sunday. And while Palmer threw for an impressive 371 yards (his highest single-game total since September of 2007) and 2 touchdowns on 25 out of 36 passing, his team got off to a slow start and was unable to recover, ultimately falling short by a field goal.

For the second time of the season, the Bengals out-gained their opponents (piling up over a hundred more net yards than the Browns) and still lost the game.

One issue that has played a big factor: the lack of a reliable running game. Cedric Benson was held to just 60 yards on 15 attempts, and he has still not had a run for longer than 13 yards all season. Through the first quarter of the year, he is averaging less than 66 yards on the ground per game. One of the team’s breakout performers last year, Benson has been unable to find his stride in 2010, in large part because he isn’t getting the help up front from his offensive line. If Benson continues to be anything less than a big factor for the Cincinnati offense, the Bengals will struggle to control the clock and move the ball down the field against their difficult remaining opponents.

Another issue that keeps rearing its ugly head has to do with big mistakes at key times of the game. There is a reason that teams like New Orleans and Atlanta have winning records and teams like the Forty-niners are 0-4: the winning teams don’t commit big turnovers or shoot themselves in the foot with penalties down the stretch. The clubs that tend to dwell at the cellars of their respective divisions do. In a league where roughly half the games each week are decided by one possession, any mistake is a potential game-blower.

Cincinnati had a 44-yard field goal attempt blocked towards the end of the first half, after an interception return that was called back due to an illegal block, costing the Bengals 23 yards in field position. Palmer fumbled the ball twice, both resulting in turnovers. Chad Ochocinco committed perhaps the most costly penalty of the day, on an offensive pass interference call that backed the Bengals out of scoring position with just over five minutes remaining and the team down by 3 points. The fact that the team’s veterans continue to make these mistakes is discouraging, and raises questions about their leadership and ability to come through in the clutch.

Ochocinco struggled again this week, catching only three passes and being held to under 60 yards for the third straight time since his impressive season opener. While Terrell Owens had by far his best performance as a Bengal, the question remains: can the two thrive together at the same time on the field? Having just one of their two main weapons show up each week is not enough. If both of the wideouts can perform while Jermaine Gresham continues to be a big factor with Jordan Shipley contributing, their passing game will be truly hard to stop.

Part of the problem is coaching, or more specifically, the inability to make halftime adjustments, a problem that plagued the Bengals last season as well. In all four games in the early 2010 season, Cincinnati’s opponents have scored the first points in the second half, three times by way of touchdown and once by field goal. Whatever the outcome of the first half of a football game, a team will struggle to be successful when it consistently yields points early in the second half. This gives its opposition momentum and allows them to either extend their lead or get themselves back into the game. Are the Bengals poorly coached and left unprepared for the opening of the second half, or are they just coming out flat because of a lack of motivation? The latter theory seems unlikely considering all that is at stake this season, but the Bengals remain in large part a mystery even to their most loyal followers.

But the Bengals have a chance to respond to the criticism and doubt surrounding their performance thus far. They face Tampa Bay at home before their Week 6 bye, and then things really get tough: at Atlanta, at home against Miami and Pittsburgh, and at Indianapolis. If the Bengals can’t find the answers to their questions in that stretch of games, they could find themselves on the outside looking in when the postseason arrives.

The Bengals won their Week 3 matchup against the Carolina Panthers thanks again to stellar defense while the offense struggled at various stages of the game. Their 20-7 victory against rookie QB Jimmy Clausen and company put Cincinnati in a tie for second in their division. While the end result was very positive, the game cast a number of questions about the team that will need to be answered throughout the remainder of the season:
1) Is Carson Palmer the same quarterback he was during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 season?
Palmer was considered one of the elite NFL quarterbacks in the 2005 and 2006 seasons, compiling 60 touchdown passes while throwing only 25 interceptions. Even after coming back from ACL surgery after the 2006 playoffs, he looked in command as the Bengals passer. Since then, however, Palmer has been shaky, throwing a league-high 20 picks in 2007 and missing most of 2008 wih an elbow injury. To his credit, Palmer has never attributed any of his poor play to his injuries; however, something has to be said for his inconsistency at the quarterback position in the past several seasons. It is possible that his throwing arm is damaged to a greater extent than is generally acknowledged. If so, this presents a huge problem to a Bengals team strong in defense but struggling to find its offensive footing; if not, then Palmer simply has to find his way and lead his offense to the endzone the way he did earlier in his career.
In all likelihood, the remainder of this season will tell the true tale: is Palmer still a healthy, immensely talented quarterback with a cannon arm ready to unleash its devastation against opposing defenses, or is he damaged goods?

2) Can the offensive line give Cedric Benson a chance to regain his 2009-10 glory?
Benson was one of the premier running backs in the AFC last year. The UT grad accumulated over 1200 yards last season and was a vital part of the Bengals offense. This year, however, he has a mere 202 yards on 65 carries (just 3.1 yards per attempt with his longest carry being 13 yards). Though the offense is still trying to use him as a workhorse, the line is not giving him much help, causing Benson to be initially hit behind or at the initial line of scrimmage. As talented as he is, the Bengals tailback can't do everything on his own; he needs an offensive line that can push the defense around and give him a barrier behind which to run. If Benson can't rush effectively, the Bengals can't distract defenses from what should be a formidable passing attack, and they will have trouble dominating the play clock and keeping opposing offenses off the field. The offensive line's ability to give Benson a chance to break big runs this season will in large part determine the success of their offense.

3) Is Marvin Lewis truly a great NFL coach? Many factors point to yes: Lewis has a 58-56 record with the Bengals, after following some of their most disappointing coaches in team history in the early and mid-nineties. He has taken them to two playoff appearances in the past five seasons, a better record than any coach since Sam Wyche in the 1980's. Players and opposing coaches have great respect for Lewis as a person and a coach.
However, several signs point in the other direction: the Bengals are notorious for sloppiness and foolosh mistakes (take the botched extra point attempt in Week 16 of 2008 against Denver for example, a season in which the 8-8 Bengals missed a playoff berth by 1 game). The team's tendency to play down to less talented opponents is another sign of a problem, as in their Week 11 performance against the lowly Oakland Raiders last year where turnovers and poor play resulted in a shocking upset. Finally, the Bengals tend to get outplayed in the second half, particularly in the opening of the third quarter. This has been true in each of their last two games. In both, they led at the half, and in both, their opponents scored very early in the third quarter, in the Ravens' case to take the lead and in the Panthers' case to come closer to gaining the lead. Lewis will need to have the Bengals firing on all cylinders and truly assert himself as a great coach in this league for them to reach their potential.

This week's matchup pairs Cincinncati against division rival Cleveland away from Paul Brown Stadium. Regardless of the teams' records or rosters, these divisional games are nearly always hard-fought and more competitive than they would seem on paper, and the Bengals will most likely have a fight on their hands.

So all hands on deck. Palmer needs to regain his confidence and lead his offense down the field. Owens and Ochocinco need to come out of the shadows and make big plays. The offensive and defensive lines need to be aggressive and refuse to get pushed around. This could be a big year for the Bengals, and they've won 8 straight against divisional opponents dating back to 2008-09. The key to the remainder of a great season starts here.