Bleeds Orange

Don't take this as an endorsement for Marvin, because I've become convinced that the ceiling for this team with him as head coach is a first-round playoff loss, BUT... With an average kicker who could have, you know, made extra points, they would have likely been 8-8. If the new guy had made the 43-yarder against Houston, they'd have been 9-7. Nothing to celebrate, but a reason to see the glass half full, especially since the schedule was stacked against them. It's been mentioned before, but heading into the game the Sunday before Thanksgiving, they'd played three home games and had played at Pittsburgh, at Dallas, at New England, and at London. Since we're stuck with Marvin, we can at least hope that the schedule lines up more favorably and that they go out and find that average kicker.

What I took from that article: Be happy with 11-5 or 10-6 (or 5-10-1 in the case of 2016) and an annual playoff embarrassment and be thankful you're not 3-13 every year like you deserve to be.

Well, that's true, too. I guess the point I was trying to make was that most of the losses were certainly disappointing but not necessarily "inexcusable", for lack of a better term. That being said, I know I shouldn't use the term "inexcusable", because that gets back to the point you made. When you "excuse" losses to 9-6 and 8-7 teams, you're accepting mediocrity (plus, if you beat them, they become 8-7 and 7-8 teams). I guess the only slack I'm willing to cut this team is that the schedule was pretty shitty this season, just in the order of the games, sites, etc.

Here are the games they didn't win this year: @Pittsburgh (10-5) DENVER (8-7) @Dallas (13-2) @New England (13-2) Washington (8-6-1) @NY Giants (10-5) BUFFALO (7-8) @Baltimore (8-7) PITTSBURGH (10-5) @Houston (9-6) The only real dud in that bunch is the home loss to Buffalo, although a good team would've beaten Denver at home and finished off Washington in London. Just having a kicker alone, they would have avoided at least two losses and one tie, putting them at 8-7, even with this tough schedule.

The point that Lewis has (presumably) lost the support of many/most fans is significant, but even more significant is whether or not he has lost the full attention and respect of the players. If he has, he needs to go.

Fouts was a product of the system he was fortunate enough to have played in. When you attempt as many passes as he did, you're going to complete a lot of them, and for a lot of yards, and several of them will go for touchdowns. His run spanned a very few seasons.

I think I read last night that since 2000, only five franchises have represented the AFC in the Super Bowl: Pittsburgh, New England, Indianapolis, Denver, and Baltimore. This year is shaping up no differently.

I said the same thing tonight. With Oakland losing their QB, their chances are probably over. Pittsburgh will get the #3, beat #6, then get an easy draw with Oakland. That would seem to put them in the AFC Championship game in Foxboro, but as luck will have it, New England will get beat and the championship game will be played in Pittsburgh. Man, I hate rooting for Brady and Belichick, but I'll wear a $100 Flying Elvis hoodie if it will help.

Not a name that excites me. For starters, I think he'll be 71 on Opening Day next year. I don't think any coaches in NFL history other than George Halas and Marv Levy have coached at age 70 or older. Furthermore, his career has pretty-much been made by two slightly-above-average Giants teams (based on records anyway) that got on rolls at the right time and won Super Bowls. He won no more than 9 regular season games 6 of his last 7 seasons and 11 of his last 15. It's true that his Giants teams were annual playoff contenders until his last two seasons there, but I think he'd come closer to being Mediocre Marvin than Bill Belichick. I doubt you'd ever get him out of the broadcast booth, but I'd love to see John Gruden here. Two other names that would get my attention are Tony Dungy and (I'm going to throw up in my mouth as I type this) Bill Cowher. Both are around 60, but like Gruden, I don't know if you'd ever get them out of the comfort of the booth. Like others of you have already said, though, until we "know" that Marvin's gone, we may be wasting keystrokes even talking about it.

The Pro Football HOF seems to emphasize team success much more than the others, certainly more than the Baseball Hall. I never liked the term Hall of "Fame", anyway. There are several ways to achieve "fame", and not all of them involve sheer talent or accomplishments on the field.

I have a feeling the Stools will take care of that tomorrow. If they don't, I'll be all in for the Ravens next Sunday. I hate to root against the Bengals, but seeing Pittsburgh get eliminated is more important to me than seeing the Bengals go 6-9-1.

Given that Hall of Famers Ken Anderson and Ken Riley are not in the Hall of Fame, then no, he won't be in the Hall of Fame. Too bad he didn't wear a sticker on only one side of his helmet throughout his career, or perhaps a blue star.

No worries, and thanks for the reply. I admittedly do have an odd way of expressing myself sometimes.

Why are you making this personal? Damn. I'm no "obvious troll". I've been a contributor to this site for years and have never caused any trouble whatsoever. I'm just a 41-year follower of this franchise who has reached his limit. Nearly no one in my circle of family, friends, and acquaintances gives a shit about this franchise or what I may think about it, so I chose to vent at one of the few places, online or otherwise, where someone might actually relate to my frustration. But if you think Adam Jones are Vontaze Burfict are cornerstones of a Super Bowl Champion team, and that Marvin Lewis is the man to lead them there, then you go right on expecting great things, High School Harry of Go-Bengals.com. Of course I like winning, and if this team had actually won something of historical consequence, I might be more forgiving. Teams have won championships without Burfict or Jones on their roster, so it can be done, and without the bullshit. As for Hill, every time I hear his name, I'll always be reminded of the playoff fumble. Kinda hard to forget about it as long as he's here. A change in scenery would be good for both parties.

Oh, I'll have no problem rooting for them. I'm pissed at the Bengals anyway. I can take a meaningless Bengals loss WAY before I can take Pittsburgh enjoying success in any form. As for Jeff Fisher, I assume that was a joke. That guy doesn't deserve another head coaching job. He's had 6 winning seasons in 21 full, 2 in the past 12, and 0 in the past 7. He's won 2 playoff games in the last 16 seasons. That's two more than Marvin, but still... Someone will give him another shot, though.

They need to continue the series at least long enough to give the home game back to all the teams that were screwed out of one the first time they had to go over there.

My checklist for giving the Bengals my support again (in no particular order): Adam Jones no longer on team Vontaze Burfict no longer on team Mike Nugent no longer on team Jeremy Hill no longer on team Marvin Lewis no longer on sidelines Improvement in the ugly costumes Check #3 off the list. I won't hold my breath waiting on the other five.

I'm actually rooting for the Rats at this point. The Bengals ain't making the playoffs, and that is settled. I hate the Pittsburgh Stealers with my every fiber, and the only team that can keep them out of the playoffs is the Ravens. I don't like the Ravens, but my disdain for Pittsburgh trumps all else. I wish they had beaten the Cheaters tonight.

Expect to see plenty of Bengals stuff at your local T.J. Maxx come January. Ugly-ass white-side-panel $29 Dalton and Green costumes for everyone! As for another team, the Cardinals and Buccs were my favorite NFC teams for decades, mainly because they seemed to always be underdogs, and also because I liked their uniforms. Then the Buccs did away with the Creamsicles 20 years ago, and they became just another team. I still hung onto the Cardinals until The Quitter became their quarterback, so now they're among the six or eight teams I want most to see lose. I can't root for the Raiders because I'm an old bastard that still remembers how dirty they were in the 70s. So now that the Bengals have returned to their role as bottom feeders, I'll be rooting for the league to collapse.

The league is certainly diluting its product with the Sunday night and Thursday night games, and also the bye week. It's profitable in the short term, but I think it's going to hurt in the long-term, if it's not already. You've got to keep customers wanting more, to promote a sense of scarcity, and they're not even trying to do that these days. I think the public will burn out eventually, and extending the schedule in any form means even less scarcity. As for the extra point, I guess I'm a hypocrite. I was in favor of making the kick more challenging and less automatic (and still am), but now I bitch about Nugent missing so many. In my defense, though, he's missing an absurd number of them.

I'm all for eliminating two preseason games, but not if it means more regular season games. The season is long enough as it is, but the worst part of adding games is that it destroys the symmetry of the schedule. Four sets of four games on the schedule, which provides for four "checkpoints" in the season and makes it easy to project what pace a team is on that far into the season. Furthermore, a schedule expansion means every season record set in the past nearly 40 years becomes skewed by a longer season. This is the same reason I'm against expansion. Four sets of four teams in each conference is symmetrical and equitable.

I hope they flex it. Otherwise, it's a three-hour national television showcase highlighting how bad the 2016 Bengals are. The fewer people that are aware of this trainwreck, the better. This team needs to just slide under the radar as much as possible, and hope that the new coaching staff and new kicker can bring better things next year.

That Web page looks like it's straight out of 1997.

The line that had me first laughing then scratching my head was this one: To do what?

Count me among those who wouldn't lose any sleep if the NFL shut its doors permanently tomorrow, and this is coming from a 40-year fan. The only reason I've held on these past few seasons was because the Bengals were good, and I didn't want to walk away right before they actually accomplished something worthy of history. Now that that possibility no longer exists, I'm done. (When Marvin Lewis, Mike Nugent, Jeremy Hill, Vontaze Burfict, and Adam Jones are no longer a part of it, I "may" renew my interest, but I'm starting to doubt that.) I still come here a couple times a week, hoping to find a shared experience with fellow shellshocked fans. But I'm no longer on speaking terms with the franchise or the league it plays in. So, I won't really have a rooting interest, other than to hope Pittsburgh and New England (in that order) are eliminated sooner than later.