Way back in October I said we could start the clock on the Bengals annual wild-card loss. Saturday night, the clock finally stopped. And it would be really easy for me to sit here and blast Cincy for another first round meltdown. And if I was really lazy, I could just break out my rant on the topic from last year. Or the year before that. Or the year before THAT. And I could crush Andy Dalton But I won’t.
Let’s not confuse embarrassing with can’t get over the hump. Before Marvin Lewis arrived, the Bengals were embarrassing. They were a joke. Arguably the worst franchise in the NFL. But he’s taken them to the playoffs six times. And four years in a row. You have to be a pretty damn good coach to lead the Cincinnati Bengals to four consecutive beat downs in the playoffs. And I’m not being flip when I say that. I mean it.
Still, at some point, you have to advance to the second weekend of the tourney, don’t you? So they’re in a tough spot. Marvin isn’t bad enough to fire, but seemingly isn’t good enough to get you where you need to go.
And I say the exact same thing about his quarterback, Andy Dalton. You can’t draft or bring in someone better, but he’s not good enough to win in the postseason. So you’re stuck. Stuck in a rut and stuck with Dalton. Because while they didn’t get the job done, they didn’t do enough to lose theirs.
But anything short of a playoff win next season, and you have to take a wrecking ball to it. Because just getting to the postseason every single year isn’t good enough. At some point, you have to win, once you get there. Even if you are the Cincinnati Bengals.
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