After seeing my beloved Bengals lose again to a team that they could of easily beat, I am convinced that the season now is about getting to 8-8. Nevertheless I have a few (60) reasons why I think that the playoff’s are not in Cincy’s future. Mind you I am not hoping that they continue to lose, and I am certainly not for them missing the playoffs and I am still going to cheer them on regardless of the outcome.
1-53: Players not playing completely as a team. This is everyone’s responsibility and team’s win when they play as a unit not as a bunch of guys in the same colors. This is why losses to the Chiefs and the Browns are so painful, because (no offense guys) both of the Chiefs and the Browns are relatively mediocre teams. Nothing special about them but they play as a team and are able to destroy a bunch of guys not on the same page. Everyone knows this is a problem in Cincy and it is old news but it really is a problem that needs to be changed from the top.
To credit Marvin Lewis, I believe that he has done a good job thus far but a long road ahead waits before these Bengals are a true team
54: Emotions. This actually could be causing some of the issue above but it’s a problem in itself. It’s ok to be passionate about dropping the pass, fumbling or whatever. But don’t let it go past that play. That is what kills the Bengals, one player focusing on a missed tackle, bad block or something like that and they focus on that for the rest of the game thus letting the game get to them. Problems happen, but don’t wallow in it, you’ll never go forward.
55: Suspensions. Yes I know the Bengals had nine plus arrests, but again we need to get past that. However I do think that because of that we have not had key players in and we have not been as effective on both sides because of this. Because one person may make a stupid choice, the team suffers. This also ties into the above reasons as well because players are allowing themselves to be affected by not having a starting corner back for a game or a third wide receiver. Team’s get past this and continue on by picking up the slack.
56: Injuries. Injuries happen but they have been killing us since 2005. David Pollack’s injury was devastating and other minor injuries since then have hurt but it’s the name of the game. This one cannot be blamed on anyone but it defiantly does no help the situation.
57: Penalties: Since 2006, the number of “stupid” penalties has risen dramatically. These penalties kill our field position advantages and also contribute to emotions.
58: Trying to force plays. Carson is a great quarterback, there is no question in my mind, however he is also very passionate (reason 54) and when things are going well, he can and will try the big plays. The problem with that is it includes more risk and high pressure. This is where problems can occur
59: Everyone hates the Bengals. The Bengals have since the 90’s been the team that everyone hates except for their die hard fans. Don’t know why everyone has it in for the Bengals but the players even know this as well and I think that they have it in for them selves because of this (reason 54 again).
60: AFC strength. The AFC in the last two years has become a very strong conference and each division is literally (exception of the Dolphins) are competing against each other for wild card spots. The AFC is really that strong.