It's Personal. Not Business.

It's probably no longer news to any Bengals fans except for ones living under a rock that Brat will return for a 10th year as Bengals OC.  But because I have been living under a rock recently, it is news to me.  So I will write about it.  And we will all lose.

First, the only thing you need to know about the return of Brat is that Hob felt the need to slip the announcement in an otherwise unremarkable column - consisting solely of bullet points, no less - entitled "Dating Game".  Hob treated the announcement of Brat's return like some sort of embarrassing late Friday afternoon press release where everyone involved hopes it goes unnoticed before the weekend hits and people stop caring.

Well I cared.  And I didn't miss it.  In the 4th bullet point:

On Monday, offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said he was back for his 10th season and on Tuesday defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer signed up for three more years.

That's literally it.  All the time Hob gave it.  Couple of things:

1. Brat actually got rehired BEFORE we signed Zimmer if you caught that. 
2. Hob can't even give Brat's return it's own sentence.  He has to include the Zimmer hiring within the very same sentence announcing Brat's return to cushion the blow.

Clearly, the Bengals know this move will be poorly received by fans.  I'd hazard a guess they probably even know that it is a poor football decision to bring him back as well.  So why are they doing it?

Because to Mike Brown, it's personal, not business.  Brat's a long tenured employee, likely a big yes man, someone Mikey likes, and so he stays.  Regardless of how mediocre to awful he might be (I can never really decide - more on this later).  That's just how things are done here.

At this point, I have nothing else to add that relates to my above point.  Instead, I'm just going to throw some stats about the Bengals offense under Brat at you.

First, I saw this line in Sly's latest FJM style takedown of Hobspin:

(talking about the O-line) the Bengals head into the offseason looking to improve a blossoming group that came out of nowhere to lead them to their first top 10 rushing finish since record-setting running back Corey Dillon led an assault to No. 2 in the league in 2000.

First of all, a better measure than total yards rushing, which Hob uses, is Football Outsiders DVOA measure which ranked the Bengals 13th this year.  That's right, we fell outside the top 10 despite our emphasis on rushing and unbalanced lines.

Second, Corey's 2000 "assault" also came with a 4-12 record and the league's 2nd worst pass offense and their rush offense was really more like 13th best if you take a better measure than total rushing yards (see table below).  As should be clear, measuring a team's rushing offense by total yards can be horribly misleading.  In 2000, that was indicator that a) we sucked at passing so b) we ran a whole lot instead and c) we sucked as a team anyway.

Also, here is the rank of our offense under Brat's entire tenure.  I include total offensive rank, passing offense rank, rushing offense rank and the variance (consistency) of the overall offense.

 
There are probably some more nuanced takeaways here, but my thoughts are:

1. Things got better on offense as we got more talented.
2. Things have gotten worse since 2007.
3. The passing game drove the offensive improvement (and it's subsequent fall) much more so than the rushing game.  I actually regressed passing rank and rushing rank against total offensive rank just in case my eyes were deceiving me.  They weren't.  It concluded that passing drove what offensive success we have ever had.
4. The variance is alarming.  Week to week performance is all over the map, even when we were a great offense we still were in the bottom half of consistency except for 2007.  It seems to me this lack of consistency probably reflects poor offensive coaching.  That talent was there during this time, so why wasn't that more obvious week to week?
5. Basically with Carson starting, we have been a top 10 offense until 2008.  Of course, even before he got hurt in 2008, the trend was bad.  With him back in 2009, we did not rebound even close to the top 10.  Maybe it's a lack of talent everywhere else, but again, the downward trend began in 2007.
6. Regardless, it seems safe to say that Brat is at best a mediocre coordinator (he looks as good as the talent on his offense) or at worst an awful coordinator that designs stale offenses that minimize the offense's strength and players' chances to succeed.  Regardless, mediocre performance should not be rewarded with a decade of employment.  Embarrassing.  And the Bengals know it.  They just don't care.

I think point 4 probably is where statistics best capture how bad Brat is.  Lots of inconsistency whether he has talent or not.  For comparison, take Zim on defense.  He's been here 2 years.  First year he started his program, there was clear improvement, but lots of inconsistency (ranked 26th).  Let's give him the benefit of the doubt since it was his first year.

Year 2?  The defense ranked 3rd most consistent in the NFL.  And improved overall as well.

Comments

[Jordan]

I know its a mute point but I am all for: HUE JACKSON to return as OC. He was the man who turned our WR core a few years back into one of the best in the league!

[FeedMikeBrownToAquaBengal]

It would be nice to actually know WHY Mikey Brown loves Bratkowski so much, given the record of mediocre/inconsistent performance. Is it really loyalty, or is Mikey Boy just to lazy to go find out who might be better? I think it's the latter.

[TigerJ@w]

It takes a site like this and these types of articles to show MFB and his clan what needs to be done to get a winner. It also takes the fans and the local media to get on board. MFB is just too damn hardheaded for the most part to take outside advice. The only thing that will make this man make a change, and we all know what it is, is not to buy season tickets or buy tickets at all. I am sure MFB thinks Zimmer will keep this team winning even though he knows his butt buddy still lacks the knowledge to improve this offense. MFB does not care as long as this team is mediocre and brings back the fans. How many other NFL owners would stick with Brat for this long? NONE! Does anyone know what BrezDUHhan is doing these days? This is all you need to know about failure. MFB knows he does not have to make significant moves this year because, golly jeez, they went to the playoffs. That will be his motto and selling point this off season for people to buy tickets. It is a joke with this franchise! MFB only wants money and he never ever wanted a winner! I don't care what anyone says.

[FeedMikeBrownToAquaBengal]

BresDUHan, inventor of the hell-yeah-go-ahead-and-score-on-us defense, is currently the linebackers coach for the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League. According to Wikiality.

[max montoya]

I don't know if it's been mentioned here yet, but in the latest ESPN mag, Brat declares that in goal to go situations the defense has the advantage on third down. Because they know exactly what he's going to do.

[BengalsDouche]

Is everyone really that surprised that Bratwurstki is back? Really? We all knew this was going to happen.

[Major Payne]

Jordan, I was holding out hope that there has been no press about Brat returning because the Browns were waiting for the Ravens to lose so that could talk to Hue. I know in my head that they are really just afraid of pissing off fans and stifling season ticket sales. But a man has to hope for something.

What more do we need to see than SIX CONSECUTIVE GAMES with ZERO TOUCHDOWNS in the second half? That clearly demonstrates that opposing DC's can adjust at halftime while Brat takes a nap.

[SM]

@Payne:

No dice. Adam Schefter reported that Hue Jackson is interviewing with Oakland to be O.C. This is yet another infuriating development. It has been well documented how Chad and many other players LOVE Hugh Jackson. He clearly has the whole team behind him and is deserving of a coordinator job. But we're not even going to attempt to reboot what is clearly a totally predictable, stagnant offense. It makes me sick.

I fucking hate Mike Brown. He's such a goddamn asshole. We actually have most of the key pieces in place to compete for a Super Bowl (QB, very good D, very good RB), but his stubborn, short-sighted, arrogant approach is gonna fuck it all up again. We will NEVER win as long as that cocksucker is alive.

Ahhh. Sorry for the curse words. Needed to let off some steam.

[Jordan]

SM-

Well said, and I feel your pain. Fuck the whole Brown Family and their incompetent ways!

[TJanns]

SM,

I agree with your sentiments, but, if MB did die tomorrow.

We'd get LPGA Lesbian look-alike Katie Blackburn as our new GM and owner.

Crickets....crickets...then BOOOOOOOOO!

[Michael Hess]

God imagine what would happen if a Brown child and Bratwurst had a baby. No, don't imagine it. It's horror I tell you, horror.

[wch]

I dont know how much of it is personal -- Mikey Boy Brown does seem to reward loyalty and is known to give people positions because of their past experience with the team Lee Johnson notwithstanding... However, he also does this -- usually at far less of a cost than going out and getting someone competent -- that's the business side of things.

You need to get back to your basics and tell people about Mikey Boy fucking it up again and not replacing an ineffective coach -- rather than go into anything about said coach other than he sucks golden gopher balls. Again, it isn't about Bratkowski per se but rather that one of the tenents of this site -- that Mikey Boy Brown is unresponsive and in fact should BE responsive!

[Boso]

Note that the Bungholes didn't even make the Brat's back announcement; it was Brat himself saying he'd be returning. So lame.

[kentuckianabrowncoat]

Project Mayhem task.

Billboards that proclaim that the fans aren't coming back unless brat GOES!