It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint

[Fan_in_Kettering]

(09-16-2019, 09:04 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: Great post and completely accurate.  This isn't on Taylor.  What hurts the most is the perceived lack of effort.  No "we can play with anyone!" after last week.  A complete debacle.

But you are dead on in your assessment.  

It just makes me sick to see the likes of Baltimore (who we destroyed last year) , Indy (who lost their QB), Buffalo (who seemed like a mirror image of the Bengals for ages), etc. all seem to have found a competitive plan.  Not Cincy.  Not even close.  

First of all, thank you. I try to be as objective as possible in my analysis but it can be difficult. I don’t think some fans realize how broken the Cincinnati Bengals had become. The team never recovered from the heartbreak of losing in the playoffs to the Steelers and the first loss in 2018, also to the Steelers, totally demoralized the team and its fan base.

This isn’t just a “new dey.” This is a whole new start. It took three whole seasons for blocking and tackling fundamentals to completely atrophy and no coach could turn this organization around overnight. I can’t believe I’m writing this but we were spoiled by Marvin Lewis’ almost immediate success. Zac Taylor isn’t going to have instant success. The team is too broken and too dysfunctional for this to happen as it did in 2003-2006.

Thankfully, the coaches know this. I’m not mad at Zac, Brian Callahan, or especially Lou Anarumo. They aren’t working with a blank canvas here; they are working with existing players, some of whom have played under four different defensive coordinators now.