Yes I know they exorcised a lot of demons this season. I know they FINALLY won playoff games. Yes they got to the Super Bowl, but the biggest demon of all they fell on their faces against - no Lombardi's in the history of the franchise.

Obviously they have work to do this offseason as in a complete OL rebuild. They also need a legit corner opposite Awuzie. And the players need to do some soul searching, as they got cocky then did not back it up. Burrow had a bad game in the most important game in the history of the franchise - the OL didn't help but if he is this special player than when the chips are down he NEEDS to FIND A WAY to make it happen.

The big issue is we've been here before where "the future looks bright" and all that - and the franchise has always screwed it up. We need new, A LIST STARTER QUALITY players at both RG and RT. We also need a real NFL pedigree offensive coordinator to design a cogent offense. The problem is our track record suggests we'll dumpster dive because Mike Brown does not value OL correctly and probably still does not even after seeing us LOSE THE SUPER BOWL because of our lack of commitment to high quality RG and RT.

So the big question is going to be if they will open the checkbook to fix the OL like they did on defense. If they don't then this will just be a repeat of the usual "bright future but never quite making it" Bengals.

Only time will tell.

Painful. Such a tough conference, we had everything go right this year. Everyone just seems to think we will return, but we got Allen, Mahomes, and Lamar to go through. Who knows what the future holds, but dang this team deserved it. Burrow didn’t feel all worldly today though, which is concerning.

Oh well. I’ve lived through plenty of Bengals pain anyways. After this loss, I’ve now felt the bottom. Can only hope we experience being on top just once in my lifetime.

(02-14-2022, 02:14 AM)thillan Wrote: Painful. Such a tough conference, we had everything go right this year. Everyone just seems to think we will return, but we got Allen, Mahomes, and Lamar to go through. Who knows what the future holds, but dang this team deserved it. Burrow didn’t feel all worldly today though, which is concerning.

Oh well. I’ve lived through plenty of Bengals pain anyways. After this loss, I’ve now felt the bottom. Can only hope we experience being on top just once in my lifetime.

I personally don’t think Lamar will be a perennial quarterback.

Lamar is way overrated. Remember we punked him down pretty good the first Rats game.

(02-14-2022, 02:04 AM)Joelist Wrote: Yes I know they exorcised a lot of demons this season. I know they FINALLY won playoff games. Yes they got to the Super Bowl, but the biggest demon of all they fell on their faces against - no Lombardi's in the history of the franchise.

Obviously they have work to do this offseason as in a complete OL rebuild. They also need a legit corner opposite Awuzie. And the players need to do some soul searching, as they got cocky then did not back it up. Burrow had a bad game in the most important game in the history of the franchise - the OL didn't help but if he is this special player than when the chips are down he NEEDS to FIND A WAY to make it happen.

The big issue is we've been here before where "the future looks bright" and all that - and the franchise has always screwed it up. We need new, A LIST STARTER QUALITY players at both RG and RT. We also need a real NFL pedigree offensive coordinator to design a cogent offense. The problem is our track record suggests we'll dumpster dive because Mike Brown does not value OL correctly and probably still does not even after seeing use LOSE THE SUPER BOWL because of our lack of commitment to high quality RG and RT.

So the big question is going to be if they will open the checkbook to fix the OL like they did on defense. If they don't then this will just be a repeat of the usual "bright future but never quite making it" Bengals.

Only time will tell.

Burrow got sacked 7 times and went 22 of 33 for 263 yards, 1 TD, and a 109.2 passer rating.

Last year, Mahomes went 26 for 49 for 270 yards, no TD's, 2 picks, and a 52.3 passer rating in a SB where he was sacked 3 times.  He is the consensus best QB in the league.

Buck up.

The odds of returning to the Super Bowl are not in their favor. It takes a tremendous amount of luck on the field and in the injury department. You have to seize the opportunity when you get it. This organization just can’t seem to do that.

I don't think they CAN'T fix the o line. Every player, owner, and fan knows what's wrong with the Cincinnati Bengals. Whoever pays the bills can't live with that public/private shame of being so close and won't fix the obvious problem that likely would convert into a Superbowl win in the next X years. There are a few problems but that alone would be enough, at least this year. It's amazing to have a QB who leads league in completion percentage and sacks. Don't let that guy down.

(02-14-2022, 02:20 AM)reuben.ahmed Wrote: I don't think they CAN'T fix the o line. Every player, owner, and fan knows what's wrong with the Cincinnati Bengals. Whoever pays the bills can't live with that public/private shame of being so close and won't fix the obvious problem that likely would have convert into a Superbowl win in the next X years.

That is the question I posed. Anyone can see the issue - but given the track record of the Bengals will they step up and really, truly fix it?

(02-14-2022, 02:22 AM)Joelist Wrote: That is the question I posed. Anyone can see the issue - but given the track record of the Bengals will they step up and really, truly fix it?

We wait and see, I don't know, it'll be super tough to want to watch them next year if we see no effort. I wouldn't doubt anyone who wanted to stop watching if they saw no o-line fixes, Burrow dragged that line to the superbowl and almost won it with them which would have been bonkers.

This loss had to happen to force the long term fixes. Now we hope/pray we get back there someday, the memory of this loss will drive them to win. The naivety of what happened this year can't happen again by definition.

This happens in sports, it hurts, "we can't do this again", then they come back, the next year or another year later, and win it all with their new found knowledge.

We would be happy if we won, for sure, but I think there would be "less" urge to fix the problems the Bengals have. We can't convert short yardage at all, it's kind of embarrassing to have to throw on 4th and short. Even the Rams got stuffed by our defense. If we can convert 3rd and 1s consistently, it would help tremendously. Thankfully we can kill 4-6 birds with 2-3 stones.

(02-14-2022, 02:15 AM)CarolinaBengalFanGuy Wrote: I personally don’t think Lamar will be a perennial quarterback.

Seriously. Look at Lamar’s postseason numbers. They would KILL for what Burrow did during these playoffs. The AFC will run through Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, and Herbert.

(02-14-2022, 02:19 AM)Billy_Bengal Wrote: The odds of returning to the Super Bowl are not in their favor. It takes a tremendous amount of luck on the field and in the injury department. You have to seize the opportunity when you get it. This organization just can’t seem to do that.

I can't deny that what you say there is absolutely true. Takes luck and a lot of things going just right to get to the SB.  Marino never saw it again. There's no guarantee that Joe will either.  His career could have easily ended tonight. Close call.

(02-14-2022, 02:18 AM)Whatever Wrote: Burrow got sacked 7 times and went 22 of 33 for 263 yards, 1 TD, and a 109.2 passer rating.

Last year, Mahomes went 26 for 49 for 270 yards, no TD's, 2 picks, and a 52.3 passer rating in a SB where he was sacked 3 times.  He is the consensus best QB in the league.

101.0 but your point stands.

The fact that he put up those numbers, and didn’t even have a single turnover worthy throw in a game where he was under siege like that is crazy.

(02-14-2022, 02:31 AM)Science Friction Wrote: I can't deny that what you say there is absolutely true. Takes luck and a lot of things going just right to get to the SB.  Marino never saw it again. There's no guarantee that Joe will either.  His career could have easily ended tonight. Close call.

Everyone always points to Marino but he’s pretty much an outlier. Most great QB’s get there multiple times. Rodgers is about the only other one I can think of that hasn’t.

(02-14-2022, 02:35 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Everyone always points to Marino but he’s pretty much an outlier. Most great QB’s get there multiple times. Rodgers is about the only other one I can think of that hasn’t.

Are we only talking HOF great? I mean Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, Cam Newton all only had one in recent memory. Joe Namath, Ken Anderson and Ken Stabler only had one. A lot of great ones like Plunkett, Simms and Theismann only had 2. Fouts and Moon never got there.

Lamar win losd record speak for themselves, we were in super bowl because of our defense not offense, anyone that thinks the I injury plagued.reavens on offense are done are crazy, we dont make the playoffs with the same issues

(02-14-2022, 03:00 AM)Billy_Bengal Wrote: Are we only talking HOF great? I mean Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, Cam Newton all only had one in recent memory. Joe Namath, Ken Anderson and Ken Stabler only had one. A lot of great ones like Plunkett, Simms and Theismann only had 2. Fouts and Moon never got there.

Yes. And I think Burrow has that type of potential. I was talking about guys like both Manning’s, Wilson, Mahomes, Ben, Warner, Elway, Aikman, Favre, etc.

(02-14-2022, 03:01 AM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Lamar win losd record speak for themselves, we were in super bowl because of our defense not offense, anyone that thinks the I injury plagued.reavens on offense are done are crazy, we dont make the playoffs with the same issues

He’s been absolute trash in the playoffs. Like slightly above Dalton level.

(02-14-2022, 02:32 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: 101.0 but your point stands.

The fact that he put up those numbers, and didn’t even have a single turnover worthy throw in a game where he was under siege like that is crazy.

One by my count. The 2nd drive of the game. The 4th down where the LB was in front of Chase. There was no point in him trying to catch it if it meant he'd lose yardage on the turnover, though.

Two if you count a Von Miller tipped pass that got a little dangerous.

I don't think Burrow played terrible, but he certainly wasn't as sharp as the final stat line shows or like we have come to expect. His touch and placement was a bit off all game. Also lots of pump fakes before taking sacks.

(02-14-2022, 02:20 AM)reuben.ahmed Wrote: I don't think they CAN'T fix the o line. Every player, owner, and fan knows what's wrong with the Cincinnati Bengals. Whoever pays the bills can't live with that public/private shame of being so close and won't fix the obvious problem that likely would convert into a Superbowl win in the next X years. There are a few problems but that alone would be enough, at least this year. It's amazing to have a QB who leads league in completion percentage and sacks. Don't let that guy down.

What I don't understand is yes we need to fix our Oline, but every single AFC competitor will fix their issues also. 
In addition, I don't think the Ravens will have the total injury bug next year and they will have a 4th place schedule which includes playing against five 4th place teams, while we play against five 1st place teams.