If your feelings get easily hurt by people saying negative things about the Cincinnati Bengals, stop reading now.
If Mike Brown, Katie Blackburn and the rest of The Family don’t make some changes, the people of Hamilton County, who just voted to fund over $200 million for upgrades in Paycor Stadium, should file a class-action lawsuit siting fraud and mental anguish. Fraud because the Bengals aren’t keeping up their end of the deal, or even making it look like they’re trying to. Mental anguish, for obvious reasons.
“Have you watched Cincinnati Bengals football? You may be entitled to compensation.”
You were warned.
What do the Bengals have in common with the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers? Not much. Both of those franchises have won Super Bowls. They finish with winning records far more often than not, and—most importantly—they generally uphold their end of the franchise–fan agreement: they do everything possible, in their opinions, to give themselves the best chance to win a Super Bowl.
Will either of them win it this year? Probably not.
Now, what do the Bengals have in common with the Browns?
A lot more than they do with any historically successful franchise.
It’s painfully clear, based on the last few years, that the Bengals largely lucked into the postseason success they enjoyed in 2021 and 2022. Those runs were the byproduct of having the best quarterback–wide receiver trio in the league on rookie contracts. They hit on a couple of drafts and had two solid years of free-agent signings.
Since then? The roster has stagnated.
They paid their “big three,” but they structured those contracts in a way that makes little sense in the modern NFL. Most teams play chess with the salary cap—using void years and creative structures to soften massive cap hits and keep the window open.
The Bengals play checkers.
Actually, that’s generous. They play tic-tac-toe—the game parents teach toddlers on the back of children’s menus. They haven’t even graduated to checkers yet.
The reality is the Bengals were effectively eliminated when they lost in Buffalo. They needed too much help, and too many things had to go right to host a playoff game with a losing record. I can forgive that loss, frustrating as it was. The Bills are a good team, they were at home, and they’re playing for something real.
What’s much harder to forgive is the effort on Sunday against the Ravens.
When a loss officially eliminated them, the Bengals were shut out at home by a subpar Ravens team that isn’t going anywhere if it sneaks into the playoffs. This team simply cannot put it all together. When they win, it’s because one side of the ball bails out the other. When they lose, it’s because one side completely lets them down.
This time it was the offense. Next time it’ll probably be the defense. Either way, complimentary football is not something this team is capable of right now.
Zac Taylor said after the game that he didn’t know why that was the case.
Joe Burrow said it’s because the Bengals are a bad football team, and he’s right.
The most convincing way the Bengals could prove to the people who put money in their pockets that they actually care would be to fire the entire coaching staff—and Duke Tobin. They might fire Taylor, though I doubt it. They won’t fire Tobin. Honestly, the most likely outcome is they roll into 2026 with largely the same people in charge.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall in the front office right now. I imagine that fly would hear members of the Brown and Blackburn families talking about how unlucky they’ve been the past three years, and how they’re actually making all the right moves.
Of course, luck matters. Every Super Bowl winner got lucky in some way. The difference is that winning franchises put themselves in a position to capitalize on luck. The Bengals don’t. They’ve built a roster that collapses the moment luck turns against it.
So what can fans do?
Stop giving them your money.
Cancel your season tickets. Find something else to do on Sundays. Hurting the bottom line is the only language ownership understands. If fans keep showing up and paying for 9–8-at-best football, nothing will change.
This always comes back to anger versus apathy. Bengals fans are angry—and they have every right to be. Angry fans still buy tickets. But eventually, there’s a peak at the top of Anger Mountain, and once you start down the other side, you reach apathy.
Apathy is dangerous.
And judging by the conversations I’ve had lately, a lot of fans have already crossed that line.
Random Week 15 Thoughts
- Can someone explain what actually happened with the snow on the seats?
- There was a lot of noise about the Bengals not clearing snow, which—visually—they clearly didn’t. The NFL later issued a statement saying additional snowfall overnight caused the issue and that ushers were clearing seats for fans who asked, so no harm, no foul.
- If I paid money, showed up in sub-freezing temperatures to watch my 4–9 team get shut out at home, and then had to sit in snow, I’d probably be pretty annoyed too. If you were there, I’d genuinely love to hear your experience.
- I’ve seen plenty of pictures of fans in Buffalo sitting in seat-shaped piles of snow. But I’d bet that if the Bengals were 9–4 heading into Week 15—even if the game played out the same way—fans wouldn’t complain nearly as much. Ownership hasn’t earned much grace lately when small things go wrong.
- Joe Burrow is excellent. He’s one of the best passers in the league and has a real chance to be the best quarterback in franchise history. He was bad on Sunday.
- That pick-six was one of the worst passes I’ve ever seen him throw. It happens—even to the best.
- What I hate seeing is how defeated he looks.
There just isn’t much left to say after that one.
Black hole sun
Won’t you come
And wash away the rain?
Black hole sun
Won’t you come
Won’t you come
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