(02-14-2022, 01:25 AM)jj22 Wrote: The city is stunned. A good year no doubt, but the truth is this chance only comes around once a generation (if you don't have Brady on your team). It's likely we will not witness the Bengals in another Superbowl in many of our lifetimes.

We should have a competitive team for awhile though, but plenty perenial good teams never make it back.

We have a fair chance. More than half the teams that made it once in 20 years made it back again.

The Patriots did.
The Steelers did.
The Giants did.
The 49ers did.
The Seahawks did.
The Broncos did.
The Panthers did.
The Eagles did.
The Bucs did.
The Rams did.

The Bears didn't. 
The Cards didn't. 
The Colts didn't.
The Packers didn't.
The Raiders didn't.
The Saints didn't.
The Falcons didn't.

(Within the last 20 years)

(02-14-2022, 01:31 AM)jj22 Wrote: We don't. Burrow is a great QB for us, but now that the playoff run is over, we can admit there was never any magic from him and this offense. We never saw LSU Burrow. This run was all defense and special teams. 

He's definitely better than Dalton, and that is important to note as that is what we all could have realistically hoped for.

What are you people, on dope?  He didn't set records for getting sacked at LSU, either.  If you didn't see any magic from Burrow you're just blind.

(02-14-2022, 05:52 AM)Roland Wrote: What are you people, on dope?  He didn't set records for getting sacked at LSU, either.  If you didn't see any magic from Burrow you're just blind.

Reading some of these takes…

Love your team.

Your domination of the AFC is just beginning.

(02-14-2022, 12:26 AM)tBengal Wrote: -The two plays that really stick out to me are the holding call on Wilson and the deep throw on second and one on the final drive.

-Upgrade the OL this off-season and we have a good chance to run it back

-I firmly believe we’re going to win the Super Bowl soon with Burrow but we have to give him protection

-Glad I’m off work tomorrow because I wouldn’t be in a good frame of mind to go in

-This was a fun season, I didn’t post much but had a fun time reading all of your posts and enjoying this ride with you

Yeah.   This loss sucks but we just didn't play well enough as a complete team to have come out on top.    I won't fall into the "officials" excuse because while the Wilson holding call was horrible, so was the lack of facemask call on Higgins on the long TD to start the second half.   

We have got to fix our OLine.   While our redzone play wasn't stellar, it really is hard to call much of anything the deeper into the playoffs you go with the caliber of OLine that we have.   Kudos to them for playing well enough to get us to the Super Bowl, but it was something that was bound to bite us eventually.  

This is now the third close super bowl loss that I've watched and they have all sucked, but it was great getting there again after so many years.    This was still a special season for a number of reasons and I think we have a very bright future ahead.  

Just hoping us FA this year to fix the OLine and use the draft to solidify our depth overall.  

Out time is coming.    This team has exceeded expectations and gotten a taste and came so close.   Now, I think they come back hungrier than ever and want to win it all.  

(02-14-2022, 01:51 AM)grampahol Wrote: As far as I'm concerned they're going back to the big show until proven otherwise. 

I'm right there with you.    This team exceeded expectations this year and are just a few missing pieces away from doing it again.    Our time is coming.   We'll get one eventually and when we do - I am hope full it becomes a trend for a few years and we finally get 2 or 3.  

Everything fell our way and we couldn't finish.

- OBJ knocks himself out of the game / yet no one jams or checks Kupp at the line; and what happened to the 3-man rush + spy that worked so well?
- 2nd half: we score on the FIRST play and IMMEDIATELY get an INT on the Rams first possession / and the offense stalled the rest of the game starting on that free 2nd possession
- our running game was working / very little use of play-action on 1st/2nd down and could have used the Jet sweep on short yardage

Couple things:
I’m good with the fact that no matter which team won, it wasn’t the usual suspects. Of course I’m disappointed.

FIX
THE
GOD
DAMN
OFFENSIVE
LINE

If we have to sacrifice a player from the D, SO BE IT

I actually think the key to the loss was the failure to score a TD after a short field with Int just after we hit the big pass ( though Higgins should have been flagged). We get ball around 30, get a first down then we go three incomplete passes, kick field goal and our offense does nothing rest of game...

(02-14-2022, 05:46 AM)Adamantium Wrote: We have a fair chance. More than half the teams that made it once in 20 years made it back again.

The Patriots did.
The Steelers did.
The Giants did.
The 49ers did.
The Seahawks did.
The Broncos did.
The Panthers did.
The Eagles did.
The Bucs did.
The Rams did.

The Bears didn't. 
The Cards didn't. 
The Colts didn't.
The Packers didn't.
The Raiders didn't.
The Saints didn't.
The Falcons didn't.

(Within the last 20 years)

Glad that the Patriot dominance is over, that will help us though when it comes to top young QBs man the AFC seems loaded:

Allen, Herbert, Jackson, Mahomes will make it tough still to get back and I have a feeling we will see  at least Watson or Murray or Rodgers in the Afc next year

(02-14-2022, 05:46 AM)Adamantium Wrote: We have a fair chance. More than half the teams that made it once in 20 years made it back again.

The Patriots did.
The Steelers did.
The Giants did.
The 49ers did.
The Seahawks did.
The Broncos did.
The Panthers did.
The Eagles did.
The Bucs did.
The Rams did.

The Bears didn't. 
The Cards didn't. 
The Colts didn't.
The Packers didn't.
The Raiders didn't.
The Saints didn't.
The Falcons didn't.

(Within the last 20 years)

This doesn't make me feel good this morning since these two teams have elite,  HoF QBs in Rodgers and Brees. Both of them won their ring.

I do feel good about Burrow and the Bengals making it back to the Super Bowl, but it's just so hard to even have the opportunity. Not many players get a second chance.

(02-14-2022, 01:25 AM)jj22 Wrote: The city is stunned. A good year no doubt, but the truth is this chance only comes around once a generation (if you don't have Brady on your team). It's likely we will not witness the Bengals in another Superbowl in many of our lifetimes.

We should have a competitive team for awhile though, but plenty perenial good teams never make it back.

They will make another playoff run next year. Count on it.

(02-14-2022, 11:12 AM)Essex Johnson Wrote: I actually think the key to the loss was the failure to score a TD after a short field with Int just after we hit the big pass ( though Higgins should have been flagged).  We get ball around 30, get a first down then we go three incomplete passes, kick field goal and our offense does nothing rest of game...

And that's exactly the time the Rams started imposing their will defensively. The Rams actually won that battle by holding them to 3 points at a time that could have crushed them as they didn't know what hit them in the previous 3-4 play sequence .Knock that in and it's ball game.

Still, they needed to soften that pass rush up a bit and ZT did nothing to do that, imo.

1) This loss was a total gut punch, but I'm proud of the team nonetheless. I had them at seven wins at the beginning of the season. I'll take the Super Bowl appearance instead, even if it wasn't the outcome I wanted.

2) It's easy to pin this loss on the refs, and sure there were some bad calls, but I pin this loss squarely on the two things that have been holding us back all season: the offensive line and playcalling in the redzone. For a team that has Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon, the offense should be able to score touchdowns. The fact that we are not able to do so with that offensive firepower is deeply concerning. My hope is that fixing the offensive line will solve our redzone woes, but Zac Taylor needs to take a hard look at this. With this talent, it's simply inexcusable. As for the offensive line...

3) Joe Burrow was on pace to be the most sacked QB in the league in 2020, and then his knee got destroyed. Joe Burrow WAS the most sacked QB in the league in 2021, and he was THIS close to having another major knee injury last night. I don't know what else the front office needs to see before they realize that the offensive line is a major problem, and it needs fixed. No band-aids. No half-measures. It's well past time to put some serious money behind this unit. The 2022 Mantra HAS to be "Keep Burrow clean." This is looking way too much like Andrew Luck for my liking.

Personally I couldn't watch the Super Bowl because I didn't see a scenario where we could win with this offensive line, and watching their last Super Bowl loss still hurts me to this day. The truth is Mike Brown is fortunate that Joe Burrow even made it through the season behind this O-line. It is absolutely disgusting to me that they finally have a franchise QB and they didn't do enough in the off season to protect him. This loss is on Mike Brown for totally screwing us with this O-line.

This loss felt like my team lost. I’m sorry guys.

(02-14-2022, 11:45 AM)psychdoctor Wrote: They will make another playoff run next year. Count on it.

Believe me, I want to, but fk. Literally every team says that when they lose in the playoffs or SB -- and how many actually make it back? Especially the following year? It's rare. 

And after every SB, literally, every team that wins, feeling on top of the world, always says: "We're going back next year! We gon' repeat!" But then how many of them actually do? Patriots were the last ones. That was almost 20 years ago. 

Point is, as much as I want to believe, as much as I want to hope beyond hope that the Bengals make it back next year......the odds are incredibly slim. Like microscopic. I would love to be proven wrong and have you guys rub this in my face, but I honestly don't have much faith. I think at most we'll make the divisional round. And likely not far beyond that. 

(Again, I hope I'm wrong, but history can't be ignored)