Yawn.

The fatally flawed Bengals team that backed its way into the playoffs last year appears to be the same one we decided to field this year.  Someone please explain to me how I'm wrong.

Other random thoughts:

Some calls for a renewal of Project Mayhem are starting to appear in the comments.  Suggestions are always welcome, though I don't know how welcome the broader Bengals fanbase will be towards negative pranks during what will likely be a winning stretch for the Bengals.

More specifically, folks want a PM focused on getting Brat fired.  While that may be the most obvious personnel change that any team needs to make in the entire NFL right now, I doubt it will ever happen even with PM pressure.  I'm so uninspired by the Bengals right now I don't have the energy to find the link, but google "ESPN Liz Merrill Zimmer Bratkowski" and read the article you find.  It will inform you Brat and Zim have been good buddies for a long time.  As a loyal soldier to Mikey Boy and friend of Zim, Bratwurst ain't going anywhere.  And if Marvin doesn't resign and Zim takes over, I doubt Zim will fire or lobby the Brown's to fire his buddy.  Brat will be here as long as he wants to be here I guess.  And we are fucked.

Speaking of, any news of the Marvin contract negotiations?  My guess is he's gone.  Zimmer takes over a for a little, then leaves at first opportunity.

I used to be Carson's number 1 apologist.  I now think more likely the Bengals institutionalized incompetence caused Carson to slowly atrophy starting in 2006.  Injuries too.

My pessimism is the highest it's been about the Bengals since we launched this site in 2008 and we brought back Chris Henry.  With the lockout and 18 game schedule idiocy my pessimism is also the highest for the NFL that it may ever have been.

Comments

[g]

Bravo. Despite the Bengals' record, I remain uninspired.

People always ask me why I sour on the Bengals even though they went to the playoffs last year. Because I knew - KNEW - deep down that they would lose to the Jets. And they did. And I KNEW they would lost to the Patriots this year, because it was the Patriots. We can apparently play really well against losing teams, and our own division. Who dey.

[Rich]

Nice post, Bienemy,
I agree with you in that I think the Bengals ruined Palmer. He probably could have been great elsewhere. I can't understand the inertia - the Bengals are amazingly inept at looking inward. Great people and organizations self reflect on what needs to change in order to be effective. I think with the Bengals, the organization fails to self reflect. There is always an excuse. Mike Brown would tell you their problem is bad luck. He'd say that Odell Thurman, David Pollack, Chris Henry and Chris Perry should all be at the pinnacles of their careers right now.

I will be shocked if they make any substantive change to reorient the offense.

Not so sure Lewis isn't part of the problem. You rarely see him talk to players on the sidelines. He doesn't coach or teach, he manages. Compare him to Rex Reed who is always talking to the players.

I think Zimmer will be a better coach with or without Brat. Dear God I hope without.

[WhoDeyBoston]

At least the team in the OTHER (much, much nicer) stadium is winning...

It's becoming a matter of waiting for Mikey to just hand the reigns over to his daughter. And that's not even a promise for changing the direction of this team.....but's it's all we got for the time being.

[tide182]

this is a sad, sad post for me. not sad in a bad way, sad in a disheartening way as i am of the opinion that the only thing more painful than disliking your favorite team is not caring about them. apathy towards a favorite team is a devastating condition which can quickly become permanent, and then the team has lost a fan for life. im not sure what i can do to re-light bieniemy's fire, but im going to have to have a go because dammit we need passionate fans like him involved:

1) the bottom line is, we are still 2-1. when you looked at our schedule at the beginning of the season you probably said we needed to be 4-1 heading into the bye to have a shot at navigating our brutal road home into the playoffs. this is still within reach, and for all the "suckiness" of last sunday's game, we still won by almost 2 touchdowns on the road. i can still pump this wagon if we can find a way to beat cleveland and tampa in the next two weeks and then go to work in the bye week, can't you? what does it say about us as bengals fans if we have a 4-1 team that we aren't interested in? would we not be the same fans we used to mock a few years ago, like say eagles fans, who always whined about how terrible their team was bc they could never win a super bowl as they marched to 4 straight nfc title games? theres a difference between a bad team and a team that isnt as good as you want it to be, and i think we're still the latter not the former.

2) when you get down with the offense, just look at our back 7 on defense! leon is as good as it gets, j jo is not too shabby himself, crocker (i cant believe im saying this) is being used effectively this year to the point where he's been a good player, maualuga is an animal (did you see that hop over the LOS vs carolina!?) who is admittedly still learning pass coverage, and dhani and rivers are solid. we are legitimately one of the 10 or so best defenses in the league with potential for more. we've got a fiery, lovable coordinator on that side of the ball, and a bunch of players who are physical and play with an edge. i like that in a pilot...

3) its only been 3 weeks! i know we've looked brutal at times, but to be totally fair carolina is not a bad defense. theyre not great, but theyre not bad, and baltimore is really good. so when you combine an offense that is clearly not clicking with some ok defenses you get bad news bears. do we wish our offense was better? yes. is it a bullshit excuse for the bengals to say they havent had time to gel? damned right. but at the end of the day, regardless of the failing grades they've received so far, they've got 13 more tests to score. theres some talent on that field offensively, we all know it, so maybe they can turn it up at some point in the near future? going into week 4 i have to maintain that belief, i have to. i can't just punt at this point because its not going well. i mean we survived that denver ridiculousness in week 1 last year didn't we? we can survive this.

4) you say, "this is the same fatally flawed team that backed into the playoffs last season." and guess what, im not even going to attempt to prove you wrong because you aren't wrong. you're right. the team right now is fatally flawed. but here's the thing. last year's team was fatally flawed in week 16 and 17. this year's team is fatally flawed in week 2 and 3. we've still got a shot to fix it. think back to last year, after we beat pit on that last second drive and balt on the last second drive and we were flying high. wouldn't you have gone to war with that team in the playoffs? youre damned right you would have, but thats not the team we had come playoff time, we accumulated some injuries, regressed on offense, and likewise didn't show the same defensive intensity without a single starting safety. this year the flaws are showing themselves early, im not saying they'll definitely be gone before it's too late, but its not too late yet goddammit and we've got a chance to turn the thing around - which again, sounds funny when the team is 2-1. funny in a good way. dont you like these higher expectations? i enjoy going into seasons thinking of playoffs without people telling me im delusional. we have fun on this blog and in these comments lambasting ridiculous decision making from the top down for the bengs but we do it because we care about them, because we want them to do well, and because we wish we didnt have retards in key spots. but thats also kind of what makes it fun, and its definitely what makes it more rewarding when they do something right.

i'll end with this. beating pittsburgh last season, i still maintain, was the happiest moment ive ever had as a sports fan. my buddy had left at halftime because the first half was such a one-sided smackdown by pittsburgh, and it was looking like such a muckfest that the gold and black were dominating that he didnt want to stick around for the inevitable steeler procession that was to be the second half. but you all saw it. we didnt fold in the second half, we got a lucky break on the pick 6 to j jo, dug our mother fucking heels in, and went out to win a football game. that was goddamned awesome. well, we've got a little bit of a break this season with this first 5 game schedule. we can go 4-1 without being world beaters. we're 2-1 so far with no terrible losses or stunning victories. lets just go to work here with cleveland and tampa, dig our heels in, and go try to win a fucking division again. STAY STRONG COMRADE, STAY PASSIONATE EVEN IF THAT IS A FRUSTRATED, NEGATIVE PASSION!!!

[Wyatt]

tide182,

I admire your passion, but I remain more in line with SWB's way of thinking, for one particular reason, a reason that pertains to your point 3. Looking back to last year, do you remember the excitement that went around after the shellacking the Bengals delivered to the Bears (45-10 or so, if I'm not mistaken)?

"Carson's back!"

"The offense is back!"

"The Bengals are dominant on both sides of the ball, finally!"

And what happened?

The turned into "the fatally flawed team that backed into the playoffs".

So, as much as I'd like to, even if the Bengals' offense manages an impressive game like that against Cleveland or Tampa Bay, I'm not going to put any faith in it. For me to really buy into this team doing better than a Wild Card loss in the playoffs, they're going to need to get their best offensive line on the field at the same time, actually run the no-huddle for more than two drives a game, and demonstrate that they can score at least 3 touchdowns per game.

[Rich]

Tide,
I considered that line of thought before the posting I made. I think the Bengals have earned their lack of faith. Because I love the Bengals, there is NOTHING that would make me more happy than to be wrong in thinking that they won't be able to make adjustments.

And yes, that win over Pittsburgh last year was one of the top moments in Bengals history. But that win would pale in comparison to a Super Bowl win.

[HappyNat]

tide,

Did you forget Dennis Fucking Roland is still a starter on this team? :)

Seriously, I agree with you on some points and there is time for them to figure "it" out and become a team that could win a playoff game. I wish I felt more positive about the team, but years of being a bengals fan has drained all optimism out of my body. The problem isn't the players, it's the organization and the history of not putting those players in the best position to win games. You touched on it with Brat's quote, Brat and Mike Brown would rather do things their way than admit they are wrong and make changes.

We should make it to 4-1, but unless we make some major strides how many of those last 11 look like wins? 4 or 5 would seem like a stretch to me. By the way, I hope I'm wrong.