Do you trust Bengals to become more than a ‘Simpsons’ sideshow? Yes or D’oh?
The Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys were supposed to be a marquee matchup for Monday Night Football and ‘The Simpsons.’ Will Bart and Joe Burrow be the difference for Springfield and Cincinnati? (ESPN Press Room Photo)
By Mike Bass
mbass@mikebasscoaching.com
You don’t trust the Bengals brain trust. (You find it hard to even use that term with this organization.) Expecting management to sober up and fix what it blew up
might feel like asking Homer Simpson to stay off his Duff.
D’oh!
More than 30 years without a playoff win stripped this organization of credibility. Any trust built in the 2020s evaporated in a flop to 4-8.
No!
A day after Pittsburgh Steelers 44, Cincinnati Bengals 38 flushed the Bengals’ playoff hopes, certified this bust of a season, and turned faith into a four-letter word, I asked in our weekly X chat how you were doing.
“It has been a ‘typical Bengal season,’ @bengalralph wrote. “I thought (Joe) Burrow and (Zac) Taylor had finally broken all the narratives, (lo) and behold ... ‘in typical Bengal fashion’ (t)his team has cornered the market on ‘how we many ways can a team lose?’ After over 50 yrs nothing surprises me!”
You believe the Bengals did this to themselves (and to you), because don’t they always? You hate feeling like this, because you assumed they (and you) were past this. The greatest run in franchise history would be just starting, not suddenly ending.
With Burrow healthy and having a career year, how could this go so wrong so fast?
“Sad, @brandonmariemil wrote. “Wasting a stellar season by the offense. And I have zero faith the Bengals organization can, or will, do anything to fix the problems on this atrocious defense. The pressure on the offense to score every possession must be devastating to those players. Even a mediocre defense would have given the Bengals a winning record. This defense is the worst.”
“Oh wow, been better given this season,” @CoachKnox17
wrote. “The word for this year is EXASPERATING. While I will love this team forever, I can't say the same about the Bengals' ownership...and given the structure of today's NFL, I wonder if they have the ability to compete?”
“It hurts…. It frustrates…. Let’s get this fixed…” @ImNostraThomas wrote.
But are the Bengals capable?
How do you trust them again?
* * * * *
This is your narrative. The Bengals feed it.
Fans of every team tend to blame the brass and the staff when things go wrong. The Bengals just make it easier.
You want change. The Bengals don’t do change. Not the way other teams do.
“Well, it's 5:48 pm and ZT & Lou are still employed,” @stevewolf44 wrote last Monday.
Taylor and Anarumo still are running the team and the defense, heading into the game tonight at Dallas.
“Just wondering what Mike Vrabel is doing after the season tbh,” @LordBehemoth78 wrote.
Probably not coaching the Bengals.
Running the Bengals is almost like having tenure in the NFL. Almost. At best, the Bengals are thoughtful, methodical, loyal and patient. At worst, they are slow, change-resistant, devolved and self-destructive.
The Bengals do not invest in staffing and infrastructure like their competition. At best, they are fiscally responsible. At worst, they are cheap.
“Some want to say they're greedy,” @CoachKnox17 wrote. “I don't think I believe that...but if there is ultimately a cash flow situation that holds us back...well, it's time to sell. If not, get off your a**es and FIX IT! To quote the Richmond AFC owner in Ted Lasso: ‘Just because you own the team, doesn't mean it belongs to you.’”
This is the narrative. The Bengals invite it.
Do they deserve it?
* * * * *
The Bengals were oh-so-close to winning one Super Bowl and reaching another, and they might have made another run if not for Burrow’s midseason injury last season.
Didn’t the same ownership, brass and staff create, mold and guide the team to unprecedented glory? Didn’t you laud them and nose-thumb the NFL when your small-market sensation overturned those super-market clubs?
Didn’t you enter the season envisioning Bengals maybe – finally – winning a Lombardi Trophy behind this group?
“It’s been a very very disappointing year,” @JeffATrennepohl posted. “I look at it this way ownership needs to do what it did in 2020 and 2019 nailed the draft nailed free agency, especially on defense and will be right back in this thing next year.”
“Agreed except we didn’t exactly nail the draft,” @SprintCoachAJ replied. “Too many overreaches. Love the positivity.”
“You are not going to hit every pick in every draft.” @ImNostraThomas added. “But you cannot miss year after year in the first three rounds as they have since drafting Chase in 2021.”
You knew there were issues. The slow starts. The decaying defense. The questionable calls. The additions failing to match the departures. But you thought the Bengals would take care of that.
You thought wrong.
Any trust you had built in the organization was too tenuous to survive this 4-8 bust. Any real credibility will come next, if the Bengals respond quickly and adeptly.
It starts right now.
* * * * *
The game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will be an animated affair. (ESPN Press Room Photo)
The postseason will go on without the Bengals, but the season goes on with them. You get to watch how they handle the adversity. It matters.
Will Taylor keep the locker room to solidify his job? Will Anarumo revive the defense to solidify his? Will Burrow keep the offense focused to solidify his greatness?
Will the Bengals feast on their usual chum, with three straight games against opponents with losing records?
The NFL world gets to watch tonight, too, but only because the league couldn’t flex out of a no-longer-marquee matchup in Bengals-Cowboys. The Monday Night Football game features an alternate broadcast tied to “The Simpsons.” At least the Bengals offense is entertaining enough ... unless you are a Bengals fan.
The oddsmakers still are picking the Bengals. The oddsmakers can’t get past picking them. Losing to Pittsburgh didn’t affect that.
But it affected you.
“Still processing a lot of it,” @WDNToday wrote last week. “Even though we could see it coming it was hard having our season nearly stamped and it being done to us by the Steelers.”
“Frustrated, but not surprised,” @NatiTalks wrote. “We called it after week 3. Bengals fans have been here before, this isn't new and we will make it through this.”
“Meh,” @PolyachenkoAlex wrote. “Disappointed but not shocked. The whole season has been a disaster. It's kinda nice to relax and not expect anything for the rest of the year.”
“I think I already knew where the season was headed, so I feel mildly curious at this point,” @willie_lutz wrote. “Really interested to see the path ahead and not so much interested in beating the past to death.”
This is the challenge for the brain trust.
To be fair, catapulting the Bengals into the NFL elite was remarkable. It might help to remember that. Staying there was always going to be harder. It always is. A sudden fall summoned the barely buried ghosts of Bungles past.
And now?
How do you trust the Bengals to keep or replace Tee Higgins? Or to re-sign Ja’Marr Chase? Or to handle the draft or free agency any better? Or to know when to move on from Taylor, Anarumo or de factor GM Duke Tobin?
Other AFC teams adapted and kept winning behind Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. The Bengals found a way to go bust behind a healthy Burrow having an MVP-caliber year.
“I really feel for Burrow,” @whodeynorth wrote. “Yes, we’re all upset and disappointed. But that guy is literally doing all he can to win and not winning. And handling this with full class.”
You thought anything was possible with Burrow as the franchise quarterback. Anything except maybe 4-8 and zero wins against teams with winning records. Now how do you have faith the Bengals can navigate the salary cap and his contract to rebuild this thing quickly?
It starts by reframing this.
If the Bengals can ascend behind him once, why can’t they do it again? You don’t have to assume they will, but what if you assume they can?
And if they succeed?
Would there be any greater way to legitimize the leadership of the Bengals?
Or to solidify their credibility with you?
Check out Mike Bass (@SportsFanCoach1) on X and be part of the conversation.