ESPN's Mina Kimes Names Bengals NFL's Most Disappointing Team, Questions Front Office

[Arkansas Bengal]

Valid points.

Russ Heltman | 2 Hours Ago

 

CINCINNATI — ESPN's Mina Kimes is surprised the Bengals' front office isn't taking more heat from national voices amidst one of the most disappointing seasons in team history.

 

Cincinnati has woefully underperformed expectations, especially defensively, where they've spent a ton of resources for little impact.

 

"I'll probably go the Cincinnati Bengals there," Kimes said on DraftKings GoJo and Golic. "And I said this before, but I really believe if the Bengals were in a different city, like, I don't know if they were the Jets or something, there would be a bigger outcry over this season from Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase being wasted on offense. I believe it's close to historically unprecedented, right? Like what they're doing respective to the team's win record. But throw out the stats when you watch every week. It is jarring to me, the ways in which this defense has let them down. 

 

"And it's a defense that clearly has not been built well, and they've thrown resources, it's a very expensive defensive line, and they have drafted and they have continuously tried to address it, and it's been an obvious failure, not just this year but going forward. I don't look at this defense and see like cornerstones per se, and I really feel like the front office deserves so much more heat for that than they've been getting—because it's been such an unbelievable let down this year."

 

"Obvious failure" is spot on from Kimes.

 

The Bengals have spent a whopping 23.87% of its salary cap on the defensive line this season (the next closest NFL team spent 20.76%), for basically nothing outside of Trey Hendrickson's All-Pro caliber year.

 

It's impossible to predict an illness like the one Sheldon Rankins has dealt with, but that among other issues has completely crushed the team's ceiling this season.

 

 

 

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/allbengals-insiders-plus/espn-s-mina-kimes-names-bengals-nfl-s-most-disappointing-team-questions-front-office-01jg3ze6bfdd?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1IIwbTEtqI8uk955KphYETj9WE4uVaeKDmw8fU-r2Ap9NDPa9PQ4SEzPo_aem_rG6l1zxSoPAB_LQgnvpBVQ

[Jamie_B]

She aint wrong

[I_C_Deadpeople]

Front office is not getting more heat because they have often operated the team poorly. For outsiders, it is still more normal for the team to be weak then strong. 

[sparky151]

Yeah, everybody in or outside Cincinnati knows the problem but also that they aren't going to fix it. Mike Brown is committed to underachieving (though he won't admit it of course), Duke Tobin isn't very good at personnel evaluation, and Zac Taylor can't seem to get the O-line or defense fixed. We have an elite QB and WR playing at the top of their game and the leading sacker in the league. And a losing record and no wins vs opponents with a winning record. 

[LostInDaJungle]

I think everyone except the most die hard Kool-Aid drinkers know this is the case.

We also know nothing is going to change.

[claptonrocks]

2 hours ago, sparky151 said:

Yeah, everybody in or outside Cincinnati knows the problem but also that they aren't going to fix it. Mike Brown is committed to underachieving (though he won't admit it of course), Duke Tobin isn't very good at personnel evaluation, and Zac Taylor can't seem to get the O-line or defense fixed. We have an elite QB and WR playing at the top of their game and the leading sacker in the league. And a losing record and no wins vs opponents with a winning record. 

Zach Taylor can't fix the Oline or defense?

He runs the offense...

I was under the assumption Pollack and Annarumo were supposed play a part developing players.

They haven't...

 

[saphead]

I love it when Mina Kimes belts out 'A Thousand Miles', what a great song.  And she's a wonderful pianist. 

 

[Jamie_B]

7 minutes ago, claptonrocks said:

Zach Taylor can't fix the Oline or defense?

He runs the offense...

I was under the assumption Pollack and Annarumo were supposed play a part developing players.

They haven't...

 

 

Or with the exception of Mimms, drafted well.

[Le Tigre]

Over-trod ground by yakkity-yak squawking heads. 
 

As Go says: clickbait

[dex]

Paul Dehner- The Athletic:

 

The latest DVOA model places the Bengals’ percentage chance of making the playoffs at 1 percent.

That accounts for the Kansas City Chiefs potentially sitting starters in the season finale against the Denver Broncos. Will they actually do that, setting up 25 days between games for Patrick Mahomes and company? Could Carson Wentz still lead them to a victory in Denver, becoming a hero for teams chasing the Broncos? Could the Browns, Jets, Giants or Jaguars put their quests for the top overall draft pick aside and find a win against the Colts or Dolphins to keep the Bengals alive?

Yeah, one percent feels about right.

That’s because the one part of this ugly math that never quite computed for me was the only piece where the Bengals controlled their fate.

Could they actually beat a good team? Not once, but twice.

The Bengals are 0-7 against teams with a winning record this year — all but one by one score. They are 7-1 against all others with a strength of victory that ranks last in the league.

The Broncos (9-6) and Stealers (10-6) offer opportunities for the Bengals to rebut the undeniable theme of the season or tie a proper bow of emphasis around a gift-wrapped storyline.

 

It’s hard for the mind not to wander while prepping for the Broncos. The numbers didn’t need to be so bleak. If any one of those seven games went a different way, then the math looks drastically different.

Don’t fumble, punt to Mahomes or fail to convert fourth-and-16 in Arrowhead and the Chiefs would have had to play their starters next week against Denver. The Bengals would have controlled their destiny.

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Don’t botch the snap and hold against the Ravens in overtime and the division title would still be in play. The same goes for the 2-point conversation at M&T Bank Stadium.

Make field goals in Los Angeles against the Chargers and the Bengals again would have controlled their destiny.

Don’t give up 44 points to Russell Wilson, which would have meant the Stealers would be facing the possibility of the Bengals knocking them out of the playoffs next week.

Get one stop in any of the four losses in which the Bengals scored 33 points this season and they would have been in position to hit January with an MVP-level quarterback and a conference that wants no piece of Joe Burrow coming into their building.

They didn’t do any of those things, of course. So, they are the one percenters. The what-could-have-beeners. The underachievers. All deserved labels they will wear and wonder about for seasons to come, if not more.

For now, they worry about the Broncos and the problem that’s defined their math problem. Why can’t they beat decent teams? Two more losses and they would become the 10th team in franchise history to go winless against teams with winning records. They did it five times in the ’90s. Zac Taylor’s first season as head coach also made the list.

Most of those teams were just bad, though. This one isn’t. Outside of the Patriots, they have dominated the teams they should. Do the character traits that turned victory into defeat all year still exist in this team?

[Bleeds Orange]

Quote

Don’t fumble, punt to Mahomes or fail to convert fourth-and-16 in Arrowhead and the Chiefs would have had to play their starters next week against Denver. The Bengals would have controlled their destiny.

 

They did convert fourth-and-16 in Arrowhead. The official saw an incomplete pass, thought about it for several seconds, and realized the situation and threw a flag. Yeah, I'm still salty over that and also the fact that the very next damned week, the Chefs pushed a Falcons receiver out the back of the end zone and dragged him up into the stands before the ball got there and no penalty was called, giving them two straight wins they didn't deserve.

[-GoBengals-]

not sure there was a valid point in the whole article, also seems like it was made about a month late.

 

obviously the Defense was constructed, correction, the defense out of necessity, was constructed to get a mix of mid level vets and tallented young draft picks together to form a middle of the road defense, which is about all you would need to be VERY successful with the offense the team has. 

 

And through a series of injuries wiping out almost entire position groups at various points, they performed worse. On top of that the system in place on defense is one that needs to be led by veterans as it was very complex, which had the young players playing a step slow and overthinking(for lack of a better term) so combining the rotation of guys in the secondary, guys going down and guys losing a step, instead of an average defense just being below average, the bottomed out.

 

It also seems Geno Stone and Pratt were vets that couldnt quite handle the complex defensive calls, Stone from the get go and Pratt once the calls became his problem. 

 

You really cant go down the roster and have much gripe at the start of the season.

 

Nick Scott was terrible, Stone + Bell + Battle seemed like a solid group that should have upgraded the spots at Safety

 

LB's all returned, no gripes there.

 

Corner we had a first and 2 second round picks, a savvy veteran in Hilton, CTB was a solid 1/2 tweener you werent too worried about being horrid, Dax moving to an easier spot (which he did a really good job at before getting hurt) Turner shouldnt have been hoisted into anything but spot duty but was, he was decent, also down. This entire site and fanbase had a collective "this group should be ok, nothing amazing, but enough talent to not be bad" feel to it. 

 

D-Line, the weakest group entering the season, but added two solid draft picks who have developed well after missing time injured, Hill you now see isnt much without being next to DJ Reader, Trey is stil la menace, and Hubbard no one expected to be hurt, playing through it and being bad because of it..

 

So you pile all of those circumstances together and its fairly clear why the performance was so bad.

 

Im not sure, aside from incredibly lazy reporting and blind frustration do you blame the front office, on paper that was a group that should have had no problem hovering around 14th-18th in scoring on defense. which would have us like 12-3 right now.

 

The objective view of this season is no different than the two where joe went down for the season. "ah sit well this isnt gonna work out like we planned" just transfer joes injury to like 7 Defensive players and its the exact same problem. 

 

This is why championships are so incredibly hard to win, you cant just have the best QB in the league and magically win, you have to have the right mix of guys on all sides of the ball, some healthy luck and some lack of bad luck, like no bad snaps or crazy weather games or whatever else you want to pile in. But when you have the circumstances that played out on this defense, you ahve voided the ability to put games away, overcome turnovers, overcome missed FG's, etc.

 

if you ran back this exact same roster from the jump next year id imagine youre a 12-5 to 14-3 range team at the end of it. the youngsters would be improved, the system has been simplified on defense, youd have 4-5 starters back and healthy as well.

 

If you want to gripe about something on defense, its not simplifying things sooner, but you also expect the 3 new strters and 4 young players to pick it up better as the season progresses, so perhaps that change should have happened at the 8 game point, but you also had a constant change of players weekly hampering the learning process, so since you were able to have a defense running it fine for years, why would you think it wasnt possible for them to catch up?

 

shit just didnt work out, and it just as easily could have worked out.  thats how sports go.

[T-Dub]

22 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

not sure there was a valid point in the whole article, also seems like it was made about a month late.

 

obviously the Defense was constructed, correction, the defense out of necessity, was constructed to get a mix of mid level vets and tallented young draft picks together to form a middle of the road defense, which is about all you would need to be VERY successful with the offense the team has. 

 

And through a series of injuries wiping out almost entire position groups at various points, they performed worse. On top of that the system in place on defense is one that needs to be led by veterans as it was very complex, which had the young players playing a step slow and overthinking(for lack of a better term) so combining the rotation of guys in the secondary, guys going down and guys losing a step, instead of an average defense just being below average, the bottomed out.

 

It also seems Geno Stone and Pratt were vets that couldnt quite handle the complex defensive calls, Stone from the get go and Pratt once the calls became his problem. 

 

You really cant go down the roster and have much gripe at the start of the season.

 

Nick Scott was terrible, Stone + Bell + Battle seemed like a solid group that should have upgraded the spots at Safety

 

LB's all returned, no gripes there.

 

Corner we had a first and 2 second round picks, a savvy veteran in Hilton, CTB was a solid 1/2 tweener you werent too worried about being horrid, Dax moving to an easier spot (which he did a really good job at before getting hurt) Turner shouldnt have been hoisted into anything but spot duty but was, he was decent, also down. This entire site and fanbase had a collective "this group should be ok, nothing amazing, but enough talent to not be bad" feel to it. 

 

D-Line, the weakest group entering the season, but added two solid draft picks who have developed well after missing time injured, Hill you now see isnt much without being next to DJ Reader, Trey is stil la menace, and Hubbard no one expected to be hurt, playing through it and being bad because of it..

 

So you pile all of those circumstances together and its fairly clear why the performance was so bad.

 

Im not sure, aside from incredibly lazy reporting and blind frustration do you blame the front office, on paper that was a group that should have had no problem hovering around 14th-18th in scoring on defense. which would have us like 12-3 right now.

 

The objective view of this season is no different than the two where joe went down for the season. "ah sit well this isnt gonna work out like we planned" just transfer joes injury to like 7 Defensive players and its the exact same problem. 

 

This is why championships are so incredibly hard to win, you cant just have the best QB in the league and magically win, you have to have the right mix of guys on all sides of the ball, some healthy luck and some lack of bad luck, like no bad snaps or crazy weather games or whatever else you want to pile in. But when you have the circumstances that played out on this defense, you ahve voided the ability to put games away, overcome turnovers, overcome missed FG's, etc.

 

if you ran back this exact same roster from the jump next year id imagine youre a 12-5 to 14-3 range team at the end of it. the youngsters would be improved, the system has been simplified on defense, youd have 4-5 starters back and healthy as well.

 

If you want to gripe about something on defense, its not simplifying things sooner, but you also expect the 3 new strters and 4 young players to pick it up better as the season progresses, so perhaps that change should have happened at the 8 game point, but you also had a constant change of players weekly hampering the learning process, so since you were able to have a defense running it fine for years, why would you think it wasnt possible for them to catch up?

 

shit just didnt work out, and it just as easily could have worked out.  thats how sports go.

 

You realize that aside from the injuries that every team has to deal with, the rest of these were mostly decisions that someone made.. right? The scheme was too complicated, these free agents weren't very good, some of the vets actually suck... 

 

All of these were the result of choices made by the coaches and front office. They aren't assigned players and gameplans at random.

 

Absolutely wild to me that you seem to think literally everyone in the building is entirely blameless and deserves a pass. The Pumpkinette's future great grandchildren thank you for your unwavering support.

[-GoBengals-]

Also, Mina Kimes, the EIL hire who was giving an ESPN Editor job from writing an Essay on Tumblr about her and her dad bonding of the seashawks. Isnt really tops of my list of people i assume watches every nfl game and their analysis i care about.

 

but lets play her game. how the team would be getting trashed for the season playing out like this is a bigger market like new york or LA.

 

Lets see how those teams, the ones who keep making hasty decisions because the owners and GMs getting getting slammed every other year for being bad when something doesnt work out right away.

 

How are the following teams the last several years:

 

Jets

Giants

Chargers

Cowboys

Bears

 

 

Trying to say that idiotic billionaire owners who cant take being ridiculed in the media and fire people every 1-3 years i  something to clammer for is a terrible take, even for a Tumblr essay, like the constant change of position coaches, coordinators, coaches, GM's and so on is good for anyone. Sam Darnold getting out of the duck-duck-goose hellhole staff of the jets and panthers seems to be having a career year in a small market, the jets would have trashed cousins AND the HC because the GM was catching heat from the NY media and the owner was in his feelings. and darnold would be in a brand new system for everyone, probably not having this type of year.

 

big market media thinks its sweet to get the clicks of spewing hate towards players and coaches, and players and coaches all fucking hate it and go somewhere else.

[-GoBengals-]

1 minute ago, T-Dub said:

 

You realize that aside from the injuries that every team has to deal with, the rest of thjs were mostly decisions that someone made.. right? The scheme was too complicated, these free agents weren't very good, some of the vets actually suck... 

 

All of these were the result of choices made by the coaches and front office. They aren't assigned players and gameplans at random.

 

Absolutely wild to me that you seem to think literally everyone in the building is entirely blameless and deserves a pass. The Pumpkinette's future great grandchildren thank you for your unwavering support.

 

 

stop with the "every team has to deal with injuries" like this? no they fucking dont, and neither have we before this year

 

every team isnt missing 4-5 fucking starters on defense. stop acting like they are. yea cheeto went down for a season once we could plan for it, yea reader missed time, but the depth was there.

 

if we were missing two guys, then yes, every team has injuries, 100% no questions asked, a back up or two down here and there, def what everyone sees.

 

thats like saying the two years joe went down "every team deals with injuries, no excuse not to be in the superbowl" its nonsense.

 

i have also pointed out how many positions the "family" has that are related to on field results, its very fucking few... yea the Brown and Blackburn families being in chage of social media and fan engagement is really setting this team back.

 

there isnt a single team in the nfl thats staff and front office has been flawless and made perfect moves, not one.

 

so why am i gonna sit here like a dumbass fucking clown and act like Geno Stone replacing Nick Scott was a dumbass move? it wasnt. 

 

i literally just said, also, if you want a gripe on defense, its why wasnt the defense simplified earlier... but there are pretty logical reasons as to why it wasnt, so im saying i get why..

 

would it have been better if it had? 100% would we be a playoff team if it had? 100%  is that worth firing a really good OC over? absolutely fucking not.

 

if you just want to be mad and blame someone and call for irrational change, go for it. but its silly and its a waste of time and energy.

 

[Jamie_B]

She didn't say anything that wasn't true. The defense hasn't been well built, and the line is expensive with only one playmaker on it. Who is the cornerstone on the D? Trey has one more year left, who is the guy that we can say is going to be the playmaker when he leaves? That is the fault of the front office and not being able to find guys to replace the ones who leave. Our last two first round defensive picks in Hill and Murphy have been disappointing, who do we blame for that if not the front office? Tell me where she is wrong?

[T-Dub]

37 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

 

 

stop with the "every team has to deal with injuries" like this? no they fucking dont, and neither have we before this year

 

every team isnt missing 4-5 fucking starters on defense. stop acting like they are. yea cheeto went down for a season once we could plan for it, yea reader missed time, but the depth was there.

 

if we were missing two guys, then yes, every team has injuries, 100% no questions asked, a back up or two down here and there, def what everyone sees.

 

thats like saying the two years joe went down "every team deals with injuries, no excuse not to be in the superbowl" its nonsense.

 

i have also pointed out how many positions the "family" has that are related to on field results, its very fucking few... yea the Brown and Blackburn families being in chage of social media and fan engagement is really setting this team back.

 

there isnt a single team in the nfl thats staff and front office has been flawless and made perfect moves, not one.

 

so why am i gonna sit here like a dumbass fucking clown and act like Geno Stone replacing Nick Scott was a dumbass move? it wasnt. 

 

i literally just said, also, if you want a gripe on defense, its why wasnt the defense simplified earlier... but there are pretty logical reasons as to why it wasnt, so im saying i get why..

 

would it have been better if it had? 100% would we be a playoff team if it had? 100%  is that worth firing a really good OC over? absolutely fucking not.

 

if you just want to be mad and blame someone and call for irrational change, go for it. but its silly and its a waste of time and energy.

 

 

Well that's one thing we agree on - expecting them to change or do anything differently is a waste of time.

[alleycat]

To me one of the biggest problems with this team is its tendency to hire from within. We don't get outside systems or techniques that challenge or improve upon what's already been taught.

 

But even worse, we are hiring up and rewarding a hierarchy that values loyalty to the organization versus results. I've seen this in my professional life many times over. Mediocrity likes to surround itself with mediocrity, because its job security remains in place. Outside, new blood that wants to shake things up - and has success when it does so, makes the status quo regime look bad. But if you hire up from within that regime, any possible success you have is a result of your "coaching tree" or "in house development." And if you don't do well? We were betting on our previous success, and "continuity."

 

It's insanely conservative and close-minded, particularly in a highly-competitive field where innovation and renewal are a constant. This of course applies to players and talent as much as coaching and administration or even ownership.

 

In our case, it's pervasive. 

[LostInDaJungle]

2 hours ago, claptonrocks said:

Zach Taylor can't fix the Oline or defense?

He runs the offense...

Why do people keep saying this?? He is the Head Coach. Not the offensive coordinator. He is responsible for the entire team.

If we only get to judge him based on the offensive performance, I am all for demoting him to his level of responsibility and hiring in a real head coach who will be accountable for the actual W/L record.

[LostInDaJungle]

1 hour ago, GoBengals said:

EIL hire

What is an "EIL" hire?? Please, enlighten us.

[Randle P McMurphy]

The Lions have 21 players on I.R. with 16 of those being on defense.  I guess it's just "dumb luck" that the Lions keep rolling on

while the Bengals need a miracle to even sniff the playoffs!  

 

• *DE Aidan Hutchinson (broken leg).
• *DT Alim McNeill (knee, ACL).
• *DT Kyle Peko (pectoral).
• *DE Marcus Davenport (triceps).
• DE John Cominsky (knee, MCL).
• *DT Mekhi Wingo (knee).
• *DE Nate Lynn (shoulder).
• *DT David Bada (Achilles).
• LB Alex Anzalone (broken arm).
• *LB Derrick Barnes (knee, PCL and MCL).
• LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin (shoulder).
• *LB Malcolm Rodriguez (knee, ACL).
• CB Carlton Davis (fractured jaw).
• CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (hamstring).
• *CB Khalil Dorsey (ankle).
• S Ifeatu Melifonwu (broken finger).
• WR Kalif Raymond (foot).
• *WR Antoine Green (brain).
• *OL Conner Galvin (knee).
• *OL Netane Muti (shoulder).
• *K Michael Badgley (hamstring).

[Cricket]

4 hours ago, dex said:

Paul Dehner- The Athletic:

 

The latest DVOA model places the Bengals’ percentage chance of making the playoffs at 1 percent.

My chances of hitting the Mega Millions jackpot is much, much, much, much, less…

 

…but I’m still not giving up hope until I check my numbers (and probably discover that

I only got one number correct).  🤨

 

 

[T-Dub]

3 hours ago, Randle P McMurphy said:

The Lions have 21 players on I.R. with 16 of those being on defense.  I guess it's just "dumb luck" that the Lions keep rolling on

while the Bengals need a miracle to even sniff the playoffs!  

 

• *DE Aidan Hutchinson (broken leg).
• *DT Alim McNeill (knee, ACL).
• *DT Kyle Peko (pectoral).
• *DE Marcus Davenport (triceps).
• DE John Cominsky (knee, MCL).
• *DT Mekhi Wingo (knee).
• *DE Nate Lynn (shoulder).
• *DT David Bada (Achilles).
• LB Alex Anzalone (broken arm).
• *LB Derrick Barnes (knee, PCL and MCL).
• LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin (shoulder).
• *LB Malcolm Rodriguez (knee, ACL).
• CB Carlton Davis (fractured jaw).
• CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (hamstring).
• *CB Khalil Dorsey (ankle).
• S Ifeatu Melifonwu (broken finger).
• WR Kalif Raymond (foot).
• *WR Antoine Green (brain).
• *OL Conner Galvin (knee).
• *OL Netane Muti (shoulder).
• *K Michael Badgley (hamstring).

 

 

Missing eight (8) defensive linemen out but no one has it as bad as the poor Bengals

[sparky151]

8 hours ago, claptonrocks said:

Zach Taylor can't fix the Oline or defense?

He runs the offense...

I was under the assumption Pollack and Annarumo were supposed play a part developing players.

They haven't...

 

 

I think it's fair to say that no, Zac can't fix the O-line or defense. Yes, younger players should be developing but Volson isn't the answer and our free agent vets seem to get worse under Pollack than they were at their previous stops. Anarumo developed the scheme for the defense and makes the playcalls. He hasn't done a good job the last couple of seasons. The head coach should be on top of that but Zac acts like he's just the OC and media contact.

 

7 hours ago, GoBengals said:

not sure there was a valid point in the whole article, also seems like it was made about a month late.

 

obviously the Defense was constructed, correction, the defense out of necessity, was constructed to get a mix of mid level vets and tallented young draft picks together to form a middle of the road defense, which is about all you would need to be VERY successful with the offense the team has. 

 

And through a series of injuries wiping out almost entire position groups at various points, they performed worse. On top of that the system in place on defense is one that needs to be led by veterans as it was very complex, which had the young players playing a step slow and overthinking(for lack of a better term) so combining the rotation of guys in the secondary, guys going down and guys losing a step, instead of an average defense just being below average, the bottomed out.

 

It also seems Geno Stone and Pratt were vets that couldnt quite handle the complex defensive calls, Stone from the get go and Pratt once the calls became his problem. 

 

You really cant go down the roster and have much gripe at the start of the season.

 

Nick Scott was terrible, Stone + Bell + Battle seemed like a solid group that should have upgraded the spots at Safety

 

LB's all returned, no gripes there.

 

Corner we had a first and 2 second round picks, a savvy veteran in Hilton, CTB was a solid 1/2 tweener you werent too worried about being horrid, Dax moving to an easier spot (which he did a really good job at before getting hurt) Turner shouldnt have been hoisted into anything but spot duty but was, he was decent, also down. This entire site and fanbase had a collective "this group should be ok, nothing amazing, but enough talent to not be bad" feel to it. 

 

D-Line, the weakest group entering the season, but added two solid draft picks who have developed well after missing time injured, Hill you now see isnt much without being next to DJ Reader, Trey is stil la menace, and Hubbard no one expected to be hurt, playing through it and being bad because of it..

 

So you pile all of those circumstances together and its fairly clear why the performance was so bad.

 

Im not sure, aside from incredibly lazy reporting and blind frustration do you blame the front office, on paper that was a group that should have had no problem hovering around 14th-18th in scoring on defense. which would have us like 12-3 right now.

 

The objective view of this season is no different than the two where joe went down for the season. "ah sit well this isnt gonna work out like we planned" just transfer joes injury to like 7 Defensive players and its the exact same problem. 

 

This is why championships are so incredibly hard to win, you cant just have the best QB in the league and magically win, you have to have the right mix of guys on all sides of the ball, some healthy luck and some lack of bad luck, like no bad snaps or crazy weather games or whatever else you want to pile in. But when you have the circumstances that played out on this defense, you ahve voided the ability to put games away, overcome turnovers, overcome missed FG's, etc.

 

if you ran back this exact same roster from the jump next year id imagine youre a 12-5 to 14-3 range team at the end of it. the youngsters would be improved, the system has been simplified on defense, youd have 4-5 starters back and healthy as well.

 

If you want to gripe about something on defense, its not simplifying things sooner, but you also expect the 3 new strters and 4 young players to pick it up better as the season progresses, so perhaps that change should have happened at the 8 game point, but you also had a constant change of players weekly hampering the learning process, so since you were able to have a defense running it fine for years, why would you think it wasnt possible for them to catch up?

 

shit just didnt work out, and it just as easily could have worked out.  thats how sports go.

 

This is pretty pathetic in its attempts to avoid accountability for poor decision making. The Bengals have the 4th most expensive defense in the league at the same time they have 8 top 100 defensive draft picks on rookie deals. That combo should reasonably be expected to be a top 10, probably top 5 defense. Yet here we are. The main problem isn't the injuries, it's the player evaluations. Is Rankins a better player than Reader? Most of us would say no, of course not but the Bengals are paying him more than Reader makes. Sam Hubbard has been playing on 1 leg most of the year. That's because our first round pick from last year is 3rd on the depth chart at LDE and can't earn snaps. During the draft last year, several teams were eager to trade up to the Bengals late first round slot to get Will Levis with the 5th year option. We had a bidding war going yet instead of taking advantage, we emphatically stayed put and then blew the pick. That's just doubling down on stupid. 

 

7 hours ago, GoBengals said:

 

 

stop with the "every team has to deal with injuries" like this? no they fucking dont, and neither have we before this year

 

every team isnt missing 4-5 fucking starters on defense. stop acting like they are. yea cheeto went down for a season once we could plan for it, yea reader missed time, but the depth was there.

 

if we were missing two guys, then yes, every team has injuries, 100% no questions asked, a back up or two down here and there, def what everyone sees.

 

thats like saying the two years joe went down "every team deals with injuries, no excuse not to be in the superbowl" its nonsense.

 

i have also pointed out how many positions the "family" has that are related to on field results, its very fucking few... yea the Brown and Blackburn families being in chage of social media and fan engagement is really setting this team back.

 

there isnt a single team in the nfl thats staff and front office has been flawless and made perfect moves, not one.

 

so why am i gonna sit here like a dumbass fucking clown and act like Geno Stone replacing Nick Scott was a dumbass move? it wasnt. 

 

i literally just said, also, if you want a gripe on defense, its why wasnt the defense simplified earlier... but there are pretty logical reasons as to why it wasnt, so im saying i get why..

 

would it have been better if it had? 100% would we be a playoff team if it had? 100%  is that worth firing a really good OC over? absolutely fucking not.

 

if you just want to be mad and blame someone and call for irrational change, go for it. but its silly and its a waste of time and energy.

 

 

Tobin doesn't seem to be able to replace Bates with a comparable player. That's not surprising if he's unwilling to pay fairly for Bates level play. But he also doesn't seem to know what Anarumo's scheme requires. It's pretty obvious the guy making the personnel decisions isn't in alignment with the guy who has to make the scheme work. Replacing Reader with Rankins was just dumb and desperate. 

 

6 hours ago, alleycat said:

To me one of the biggest problems with this team is its tendency to hire from within. We don't get outside systems or techniques that challenge or improve upon what's already been taught.

 

But even worse, we are hiring up and rewarding a hierarchy that values loyalty to the organization versus results. I've seen this in my professional life many times over. Mediocrity likes to surround itself with mediocrity, because its job security remains in place. Outside, new blood that wants to shake things up - and has success when it does so, makes the status quo regime look bad. But if you hire up from within that regime, any possible success you have is a result of your "coaching tree" or "in house development." And if you don't do well? We were betting on our previous success, and "continuity."

 

It's insanely conservative and close-minded, particularly in a highly-competitive field where innovation and renewal are a constant. This of course applies to players and talent as much as coaching and administration or even ownership.

 

In our case, it's pervasive. 

 

Yes, this is the root of the problem. The Bengals are never "all in" or at the cap or borrowing future year assets to get better results this year. At the trade deadline, the big move was trading our 7th rounder next year for Khalil Herbert. And we overpaid. But the people in charge will all be back next season to muddle through again. Maybe we'll be a playoff team if Burrow and Chase can repeat their performances from this year. But odds are they won't. 

 

3 hours ago, Randle P McMurphy said:

The Lions have 21 players on I.R. with 16 of those being on defense.  I guess it's just "dumb luck" that the Lions keep rolling on

while the Bengals need a miracle to even sniff the playoffs!  

 

• *DE Aidan Hutchinson (broken leg).
• *DT Alim McNeill (knee, ACL).
• *DT Kyle Peko (pectoral).
• *DE Marcus Davenport (triceps).
• DE John Cominsky (knee, MCL).
• *DT Mekhi Wingo (knee).
• *DE Nate Lynn (shoulder).
• *DT David Bada (Achilles).
• LB Alex Anzalone (broken arm).
• *LB Derrick Barnes (knee, PCL and MCL).
• LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin (shoulder).
• *LB Malcolm Rodriguez (knee, ACL).
• CB Carlton Davis (fractured jaw).
• CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (hamstring).
• *CB Khalil Dorsey (ankle).
• S Ifeatu Melifonwu (broken finger).
• WR Kalif Raymond (foot).
• *WR Antoine Green (brain).
• *OL Conner Galvin (knee).
• *OL Netane Muti (shoulder).
• *K Michael Badgley (hamstring).

 

Yeah, their defense is held together with bubblegum and twine at this point. But they can take the pressure off it because they can run the ball as well as pass it when on offense. And their DC and HC get the guys they have on defense to play hard. We don't have that.

 

 

[Jungletiger]

You want to know about Josh Allen?  That is her crush, she can tell you all about him.   Anything else going on in the NFL you will get surface level information.  I am surprised people still pay attention to her.