Not Being in the Playoffs Stinks!

[Fan_in_Kettering]

Watching the other teams peak in the postseason makes me ill when I think about it. One of my friends mentioned how he notices teams like Green Bay or Pittsburgh can basically play like stink during the regular season and barely win enough games to get into the playoffs -- and then raise their game when it actually counts. Mike McCarthy, Bill Belichick, and the awful Mike Tomlin get the best from their teams in the postseason -- and Cincinnati better figure out how to do this as well or this winless playoff streak will continue forever.

I think the first way to rectify this issue is to plan for a 19 game season from the get-go. The halfway mark is not between games 8 and 9, it's between games 9 and 11 depending on the existence of a bye week in the playoffs. Once the Bengals stop thinking of the postseason as an afterthought they'll do better.

Next, expand the playbook as the season progresses. I heard Cris Collinsworth last night giving the Steelers mad props for their new offensive line schemes they used against the Dolphins and the Chiefs which caught both defenses off guard. Cincinnati uses the same blocking schemes which predate the end of apartheid in South Africa, the first McDonald's in Beijing, Hurricane Andrew, the first World Trade Center Bombing, the Pentium microprocessor, and the release of Windows 3.1.

Finally, start hitting on defense. Make it clean, but instill a sense of fear.