Searching for Answers

This one was more than just another loss.

On Sunday, the Bengals looked like a team at the end of a 4-12 season...not the beginning.  After an off-season where very little was actually spent talking about football, the Bengals came out flat, lifeless, and exhausted.  The Bengals couldn't even run hard on the two biggest plays of the game:  the double reverse touchdown and Joe Flacco's inexplicable 150-yard QB bootleg for a touchdown.

Folks, it's more than the players and the coaches.  For 18 years now, Bengals fans have been subject to this garbage.  Marvin Lewis has not been here 18 years...neither has Dexter Jackson...or Dave Shula...or Dan Wilkinson...or Bob Bratkowski.  The problems are different, but always the same.  There has been one mainstay in 18 years of "football" (using that term loosely).  Mike Brown and his family have their clutches on this franchise, on this city, and on this fan base.  There is clearly a lack of personal pride.  Somehow, they can accept getting kicked in the mouth year after year, and not change the way they do business.  They are OK with being near outcasts in Cincinnati, only befriending people who are apologists or simply choose not to talk about football with them.  They are OK with that existence. 

Me?  I'm not built that way.  I can't understand how you can accept disgusting performances like this.  Maybe making tens of millions of dollars in profit each year softens the blow.  I'll likely never know that feeling.  But I do know that losing this way is unacceptable to me...and I can't figure why it would be acceptable to this family...because I am flat out not built that way.  It is impossible for me to grasp. 

There are reasons why franchises like the Lions, the Cardinals, and the Bengals can't find success in the NFL.  At the end of the day, this team has no identity, no toughness, and no plan. 

I'm reminded of a quote from the greatest shortstop to wear the Cincinnati Reds uniform.  Towards the end of Carl Linder's reign as Reds owner, Barry Larkin was asked for his take on the fortunes of the team...still with an outside chance of making the postseason.  Larkin paused, and said dejectedly, "We know the cavalry ain't coming." Speaking to the point where he knew ownership was not going to do what it took to get an extra player or two for a postseason push...Larkin and the rest of the Reds knew the season was over.

At the end of the day, Bengals players and coaches know...the cavalry ain't coming.   Despite being one of the most profitable franchises in the league, the Bengals refuse to add to their scouting department of three.  They refuse to build an indoor practice facility for their players.  They have a bumbling VP of Player Personnel that should in NO WAY have the responsibilities he does to build an NFL roster.  They refuse to go the extra foot...let alone the extra mile...for their players, for their coaches, and for their fans.

Forget sports for a second.  Think about this like any other job.  If you worked for a company like the Bengals...would you give a 100%?  It's easy to see how the cycle works.  In 1996, the Bengals finally fired Dave Shula, and promoted Bruce Coslet.  Coslet talked tough, and the Bengals listened...finishing with a flourish.  He was the new man in town, and the players didn't quite know who would stay, and who would go.  So the effort, and preparation, increased.  Once players realized that Coslet could bark, but Mike Brown was the only one with the bite...everything fell back into place.  I see the same thing happening today.  The Chris Henry debacle was the nail in the coffin.  Marvin is powerless, and the players know it.  He will resign at the end of the year (if not sooner), and the biggest 'Yes' man in the organization...Bob Bratkowski, will be promoted to head coach.  Loyal to Mike Brown since 2001, he will get his chance at a head coach, even if the Bengals finish dead last in offense this year.  And the cycle continues...

In today's NFL...if coaches and players are not preparing with the MAXIMUM effort...you get results like what the Bengals displayed on Sunday.  Willie Anderson remarked in his short time in Baltimore that he was stunned how hard the Ravens defense prepared.  He had never seen anything like it. 

Truth is, Ravens players have a well-respected GM in Ozzie Newsome, and an organization that is dedicated to winning...not giving players five chances to turn their lives around. 

Bengals fans...it's a long season ahead.  Enjoy the tailgating, enjoy the hotties at PBS, and enjoy seeing some real teams like Philly, Pittsburgh, and Jacksonville.  Just don't expect anything different out of the Bengals anytime soon.

As Albert Einstein would say...that would be insanity.

Comments

[Rich]

This couldn't be more true.
The only thing I would add is that who knows what has gone on behind the scenes to subvert Marvin Lewis and make a bad situation even worse. The surface, obvious stuff is bad enough. The thing is that these facts aren't a mystery to any of the potential coaching candidates in the NFL. They won't come to a franchise where they know they won't be supported unless that is the only way they eat.

Marvin Lewis has made a ton of mistakes. But, he's a smart guy. He'll get a job somewhere else in a system that supports him and having learned his mistakes will succeed. And then everyone will bellyache that he is gone, not understand the reasons why he is successful in his future endeavors.

[Rich]

This couldn't be more true.
The only thing I would add is that who knows what has gone on behind the scenes to subvert Marvin Lewis and make a bad situation even worse. The surface, obvious stuff is bad enough. The thing is that these facts aren't a mystery to any of the potential coaching candidates in the NFL. They won't come to a franchise where they know they won't be supported unless that is the only way they eat.

Marvin Lewis has made a ton of mistakes. But, he's a smart guy. He'll get a job somewhere else in a system that supports him and having learned his mistakes will succeed. And then everyone will bellyache that he is gone, not understand the reasons why he is successful in his future endeavors.

[Scott Ricketts]

I want to anally rape Mike Brown with a barbed wire dildo.

[Sleeping With Bieniemy]

Scott Ricketts is my new favorite commenter.

[Daniel Venrick AKA the Danimal]

and after the anal rape with the barbed wire dildo, we hang Mikey B from the Ohio River bridge...by his nuts.

And if Bratkowski becomes our new head coach, then I will seriously contemplate jumping off the bridge into the ohio river myself...in the dead of winter.