With a healthy Joe Burrow, the Cincinnati Bengals were expected to be contenders in the AFC North.

Instead, they were let down, clawing and scratching only to find themselves 4-5 at the halfway mark. Their four wins have all come against sub-.500 teams that have a combined current record of 8-28.

Cincinnati played two divisional games, losing to the Ravens by three points and beating the Cleveland Browns by a touchdown. The Bengals still have to play the Ravens (6-3) on Thursday, the Browns (2-7) again a week before Christmas and the Steelers (6-2) twice.

In other words, winning the AFC North or even making the playoffs as a wild card will be much more difficult than overcoming some of the league’s weaker teams. Of Cincinnati’s remaining eight games, five are against teams with winning records.

Burrow strongly believes the Bengals can still win enough games to make the playoffs. He thinks it will take 10 wins to do that, so Cincinnati needs to win six of its last eight.

“I’m going to be hard on myself,” he said. “It’s going to be hard for us to execute the way I feel we need to.”

what’s up

Cincinnati ended the first half of the season on a high note. Attack and defense were both dominant in Sunday’s 41-24 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Burrow tied a career high with five touchdown passes, defensive end Trey Hendrickson had four sacks, tight end Mike Gesicki caught two touchdown passes and Cincinnati finally got its running game out of the mud with Chase Brown rushing for a career-high 120 yards. … Star WR Ja’Marr Chase was as reliable as ever. He leads the NFL with seven touchdown catches, is second with 717 receiving yards and is tied for third with 55 catches.

Which needs help

The Raiders are among the league’s worst at stopping the run, and it remains to be seen whether the Bengals can sustain Sunday’s effort against better teams, especially with left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. injured. Cincinnati entered the Raiders game averaging just under 90 yards per game on the ground. Only four NFL teams have been worse. Chase Brown had to be the No. 1 guy on Sunday with his backfield partner Zack Moss out with a neck injury.

Supply

With Hendrickson’s four sackshe became the NFL leader with 11, two more than Dexter Lawrence of the Giants. Hendrickson was also credited with seven QB hurries against Las Vegas.

“You know, if they gave awards in the middle of the season, that would be something you could be excited about. But they don’t, so we move on to the next challenge and that’s the Ravens,” Hendrickson said.

Gesicki caught his first touchdown pass as a Bengal and his first since last Christmas Evewhen he played for the Patriots. He became a major target for Burrow with wide receiver Tee Higgins released. Gesicki has 30 catches for 353 yards and caught Burrow’s last two TD passes Sunday.

“He makes contested catches and continues to show why I have so much faith in him,” Burrow said. “He continues to make plays for us. So his role will continue to grow.”

Stock down

Rookie WR Jermaine Burton somehow ended up on coach Zac Taylor’s naughty list. He is expected to be part of the game plan on Sunday in place of Higgins, Burton, on the other hand, was a healthy scratch. Taylor did not elaborate, but said benching him was “absolutely the right decision.”

injury

Higgins missed his second game with a quad injury after missing two earlier in the year with a hamstring problem. … Orlando Brown has a right knee injury. … TE Erick All Jr. suffered a knee injury Sunday and DT BJ Hill is out with a hip injury. Neither of them trained on Monday.

Key number

20 — TD passes for Burrow, tied for second in NFL with Ravens’ Lamar Jackson. They are one behind the Bucs’ Baker Mayfield.

Next steps

Thursday’s division game with the host Ravens (6-3) is as close to a must-win as the Bengals have gotten. They have already lost to the Ravens once, a 41-38 overtime loss on October 6th. A win over Baltimore would be the ultimate confidence builder, especially since the Bengals finished 1-5 against division opponents last season.