Were the pre-Joe Bengals as bad as most think?

[Shake n Blake]

(01-31-2023, 10:56 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Mahommes was a project who was compared to Jay Cutler, pre draft:

Overview
Mahomes is a big, confident quarterback who brings a variety of physical tools to the party, but he's developed some bad habits and doesn't have a very repeatable process as a passer. Mahomes' ability to improvise and extend plays can lead to big plays for his offense, but he will have to prove he can operate with better anticipation and be willing to take what the defense gives him in order to win from the pocket. Mahomes will be a work in progress, but he's a high ceiling, low floor prospect.


So you had a player with issues, but massive upside and he was taken by the Chiefs who planned to sit him behind a veteran QB in Alex Smith where he could be developed by a QB guru in Andy Reid.

As for the franchise of the Chiefs, well I mean they at least brought people in and out.  The knock against the Bengals was that they had a 30 years playoff drought that involved a lot of "staying the course."  When we drafted Burrow we were a 2-14 team with a HC who looked to be in completely over his head and we hadn't won a playoff game since 1990 and we had the same stagnant/stubborn front office and owner running the show and saying stuff at press conferences that made Bengals fans groan.

It's hard to take Reid out of the Chiefs picture, because when he drafted Mahommes all 4 of his seasons as the HC in KC were winning seasons, with 3 playoff berths and a playoff win in there.  If the Chiefs had drafted Mahommes with Romeo Crenel going 2-14, then I think they're have gotten more grief, for sure.

With the Chiefs, it's a combo. Reid made them very good, but Mahomes took them from that level to that of a yearly title contender.

Before the Chiefs got Reid, they were also 2-14. They had at least 12 losses in 4 of their previous 6 seasons, and they hadn't won a playoff game since 1993, finally winning one in 2015 after a 22 year drought.

I don't think the situations are massively different.