Time and time again, fans and players are trying to defend the Bengals every year.
Granted, most of the true fans will be true fans, no matter how much the team breaks your heart; they are able to suck you into the winning wave just enough for you to be that disappointed either every week or every few weeks.
After reading fans, analysts, and former coaches’ social media posts, it really sank in how bad that loss was.
I’m honestly not even sure where to start. Either an 0-7 team that comes into Cincinnati to come back from 31-16 late in the third quarter to win, the Bengals defense looking like a pee wee team, or the head coach calling a run play down 1 point with approximately 1 minute left in the game with two of the league’s best receivers.
Let’s not forget about the defense missing tackles that most high schoolers could make, OR them letting an 0-7 football team gain over 500 yards (yes, you heard that right) of total offense, with half of that being rushing.
People were saying it was the worst loss in franchise history. Statistically, I personally do not know, but as a fan watching the game, maybe.
Word on the street was that Bengals fans were on a 3 1/2-hour hold with the sales office to cancel season tickets for next season.
Older fans have been saying for years the Bengals front office won’t make any major changes until they aren’t making money, well that time might have come.
A fan base that have been through years and years of heartbreak seem to finally be fed up with an organization that can’t get the job done.
Again, the team has fans that will be fans no matter what, but there’s also a big chunk of fans that see through all of the fake positivity and all they see is an organization that has a front office that has the lowest amount of scouts that consistently draw blanks through the NFL draft, especially recently.
Besides obvious draft choices like Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, you have real standout draft choices such as Myles Murphy, who has “almost” hit his potential 3 years into the league (1st round draft pick), Shemar Stewart (1st round pick), who showed very slight promise, but has been a complete dud. Billy Price and John Ross are also up there pretty high on completely missed picks.
You could go on and on with missed draft picks. You could say it’s because of a minimal scout team, but it stems from the complete and utter joke of “Director of Player Personnel” Duke Tobin. If you’re wondering when I’m going to blame the GM, I’m not, because the Bengals don’t have a true GM like every other normal professional football team.
We all thought it was time for defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo to “hit the road, Jack,” and the team agreed, so he was fired. But now he’s leading the Indianapolis Colts to one of their best starts in franchise history and arguably the best team in the NFL this year.
We also wanted the team to fire offensive line coach Frank Pollack after years of horrible protection, and they did. They also drafted two other linemen and signed one in free agency, and two weeks into the season, the franchise quarterback has yet another nearly season-ending injury.
Not only did they fire DC Lou Anarumo, but they also nearly fired the entire defensive coaching staff, and they just allowed an 0-7 team to score 39 points against them at home.
Besides Ja’Marr Chase padding his statistics last week against AFC North rival, Pittsburgh Steelers, last week, he had less than 100 yards against the Jets, and Tee Higgins had one catch. Granted that one catch was a touchdown, it’s still just one catch.
What more does this organization need to see that something needs to change? A head coaching change is one of the obvious choices, but what about several front office firings, along with several front office hirings, and more?
The good news is that after Sunday’s game vs. the Chicago Bears at home, the Bengals get a badly-needed bye week to take a step back and evaluate things.
Maybe, just maybe, if they lose Sunday, we’ll see some changes. Maybe Zac Taylor can hand over the play-calling duties to Dan Pitcher and spend more time working with the entire team, not just the offense.
If the Bengals do lose Sunday, what kinds of changes do you think the Bengals should make during their bye week? Let us know in the comments!
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