Bengals K Josh Brown celebrates his last-second field goal to beat Pittsburgh. (US Presswire)

Coaches tend to talk out of both sides of their mouths this time of year. The final weeks of the season all interviews discuss the need for positive momentum entering the playoffs.



“You want to be playing your best football,” insert coach name here will say.

Only, the moment Week 17 comes to an end, the name of the game changes.

“We are all 0-0, the season starts over,” the same coach will continue.

The Bengals know the feeling of entering the postseason on a negative slide. In 2009, they slogged into the playoffs, losing three of the final four, and were defeated at home by the New York Jets.

Last season, Cincinnati backed into the playoffs the final week despite losing a game they thought they had to win against Baltimore. They were blown out by Houston in the first round.

This year, a different wave carries the Bengals into the playoffs. They've won seven of eight and swept through Pittsburgh and Baltimore on their way to Houston for Saturday's game.

On the flip side, Houston lost three of its final four.

The question then becomes: Does momentum matter?

“Momentum finished [Sunday],” coach Marvin Lewis said. “It’s what you do now that counts. We get no points for what we did at the end of the season.”

The recent numbers prove Lewis correct. Taking a look at the past two years, there's no difference between teams that finished the season hot and those that lost games down the stretch.

In breaking down the teams playing in the first round of the playoffs the last two seasons into two groups -- those that finished winning at least three of their final four and those that finished losing at least two of their final four games -- their records are identical.

  • Record of teams that won at least three of final four games: 4-4
  • Record of teams that won two or fewer of final four games: 4-4

So, maybe the hot teams don't always win in the first round, but does playing well down the stretch predicate a Super Bowl run? That seems to be more likely, but not without an asterisk.

Each of the past two years the Super Bowl participants played well in the final few regular-season games.

  • 2010 Steelers --- won six of seven
  • 2010 Packers --- won last two
  • 2011 Giants --- won three of four
  • 2011 Patriots --- won eight in a row

Take a look back to 2009, however, and both the Saints and Colts stumbled. The champion Saints lost their last three and the Colts, while resting starters, dropped their final two games before their playoff runs ended in Miami.

At the end of the day, the fact the Bengals played well down the stretch doesn't mean much in relation to the struggling Texans. Don't expect any Cincinnati players to be thinking about the previous eight games when the line up for kickoff at Reliant Stadium.

“Going into the game, you may feel a little better (with momentum), but we’re all the same at this point,” CB Leon Hall said. “We have to win one game at a time and take it week-to-week.”

Follow Paul Dehner Jr. for Bengals updates on Twitter @CBSBengals.