(02-15-2022, 03:18 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I would love to be able to see posters ages posted with their screen names. I have a theory about those that blow up when a little adversity hits and they don't get exactly what they want, and when they were born. 

I am 62 years old, there for the first and second SuperBowl, there for the lean 90s, there for the better years of the 2000s. I don't remember the 60s or early 70s but after that I remember it all. The Forest Gregg years, the Sam Wyche years, even the David Shula and Bruce Coslett years. I don't remember there being any team since I started watching them where people outside of actual Bengal's fans who genuinely think we have an exciting, wow factor team like we have now. I'm happy I didn't have to wait until I was in my 80s or 90s.

(02-15-2022, 03:18 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I would love to be able to see posters ages posted with their screen names. I have a theory about those that blow up when a little adversity hits and they don't get exactly what they want, and when they were born. 

You might actually be surprised.  From what I can gather from various posts, it seems a bit of a diverse group.  And I think it's because of a combination of what I'm guessing your theory is and adding to that the jaded fans that have lost a lot of hope through the years.  As soon as the game ended on Sunday, I was facetiming my kids back in Colorado, and my dad popped in next to me to tell my kids if they're lucky they'll see this again in 30 years because that's as good as it's going to get.  

(02-15-2022, 12:58 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: But a few tweaks and another year together and the team should be better next year.  How is that anything but positive?  

Because "being better" sometimes isn't good enough.

You still need EVERY crucial break to go your way.  (team health, big plays, penalties, turnovers, etc)

THIS was the year that happened, until the Super Bowl.

Even Tom Brady with the Patriots went NINE YEARS without a Super Bowl appearance - it's just so difficult to make it.

The stars somehow aligned for the Bengals, this season, and they didn't take advantage.
They'll be GOOD going forward, for sure, probably consistently in the playoffs, winning division, etc
But, make it to the Super Bowl?  Eh, who knows... I'm not going to get my hopes up again.  Better to be pleasantly surprised.
I've done that for the last 51 years, why change now?

EDIT:  My heart says "half-full" - because I want to believe.  But, I'm a math, stat, logical type thinker, so my head says "half-empty."

(02-15-2022, 03:18 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I would love to be able to see posters ages posted with their screen names. I have a theory about those that blow up when a little adversity hits and they don't get exactly what they want, and when they were born. 

I'm 46 soon to be 47 this July.

(02-15-2022, 04:47 PM)Tomkat Wrote: Because "being better" sometimes isn't good enough.

You still need EVERY crucial break to go your way.  (team health, big plays, penalties, turnovers, etc)

THIS was the year that happened, until the Super Bowl.

Even Tom Brady with the Patriots went NINE YEARS without a Super Bowl appearance - it's just so difficult to make it.

The stars somehow aligned for the Bengals, this season, and they didn't take advantage.
They'll be GOOD going forward, for sure, probably consistently in the playoffs, winning division, etc
But, make it to the Super Bowl?  Eh, who knows... I'm not going to get my hopes up again.  Better to be pleasantly surprised.
I've done that for the last 51 years, why change now?

EDIT:  My heart says "half-full" - because I want to believe.  But, I'm a math, stat, logical type thinker, so my head says "half-empty."

I get that.  Completely.  But the big plays, penalties and turnovers come down to performance, so those are controllable elements.  Health, sure, that's always a wildcard.  

The NFL is set up to be hard to turn into a long-lasting dynasty.  If you build your team primarily through FA, the window is short and the funds disappear fast.  When you build through the draft and can plug players in via FA, you can have more longevity, and that's where I see the biggest upside for the Bengals right now.  Could they miss the mark next year?  Sure.  I just don't see them doing so the next 3 years in a row.  Somewhere in the near term they should absolutely be able to get back to this place.  

This year the Bengals lost to a team that put a lot of eggs into the FA basket.  They had a tight window.  They had to win this year.  And they just barely did.  I've been saying for weeks that next year is going to be hard.  They've got to slog through an entire season now without looking ahead to the big game they want to be back in.  They've got to keep focus no matter what.  It'll be a real test of the team.  Sure, when you're on the doorstep you want to take advantage.  But in terms of a resilient group with a very solid core, I think they're in remarkable shape compared to a lot of teams that make it to a SB. 

Half full - almost won the Super Bowl, will hopefully be back

Half empty - you’re now stuck with Zac Taylor

I'm a bit of both. This team is close and we should be improved for next year or atleast have the potential to be. But we were so close to winning a superbowl and I know the line fell apart in the 2nd half. But just a few creative plays and we still win this game. Think about it we had a 2nd and 1 and shot ourselves in the foot. Pick up a first and we are most likely at the very least going to overtime. We should be improved next year but look at the Bills they are not only loaded but were playing amazingly and still lost. Making it to another Superbowl is not gonna be a gimme and staying as healthy as we just did is not gonna be very likely either.

One way to look at it is if they had won

1) they may not have been as aggressive in free agency and just relied on the draft

2) they (Taylor Callahan burrow) would spend the off season celebrating smoking cigars and making the social media rounds

From the loss there is even more pressure to be aggressive in free agency

The possibility that Taylor burrow spend the off-season looking at the game film 100 times realizing the changes from a formation game plan adjustment and scheme perspective that
Makes them better permanently

(02-15-2022, 04:47 PM)Tomkat Wrote: Because "being better" sometimes isn't good enough.

You still need EVERY crucial break to go your way.  (team health, big plays, penalties, turnovers, etc)

THIS was the year that happened, until the Super Bowl.

Even Tom Brady with the Patriots went NINE YEARS without a Super Bowl appearance - it's just so difficult to make it.

The stars somehow aligned for the Bengals, this season, and they didn't take advantage.
They'll be GOOD going forward, for sure, probably consistently in the playoffs, winning division, etc
But, make it to the Super Bowl?  Eh, who knows... I'm not going to get my hopes up again.  Better to be pleasantly surprised.
I've done that for the last 51 years, why change now?

EDIT:  My heart says "half-full" - because I want to believe.  But, I'm a math, stat, logical type thinker, so my head says "half-empty."

I understand this to a point, but we also have to remember that we were injured a bit. Not like all our starters were 
playing all season long, lots of starters were really banged up too like Hopkins who was clearly not 100% till later in 
the year. Ossai was lost all year, Waynes once again wasn't healthy, lost Reiff, Larry O, Carman must of been hurt 
somewhat otherwise why would we have started the clearly weaker play in Adeniji in the SB and late in the year. 

Logan got hurt against the Chargers, ADG went down etc.

On the turnover point, we were both careful with the ball on Offense and opportunistic on Defense. Not like we were 
just lucky. We played disciplined cause we were coached well in this aspect also we were coached well with the next 
man up when players like Ogunjobi and Reiff went down. BJ Hill played great when he had to start.

With Prince and Adeniji starting against AD and company it was amazing we had a great chance of winning honestly.

(02-15-2022, 07:15 PM)Oasis5055 Wrote: One way to look at it is if they had won

1) they may not have been as aggressive in free agency and just relied on the draft

2) they (Taylor Callahan burrow) would spend the off season celebrating smoking cigars and making the social media rounds

From the loss there is even more pressure to be aggressive in free agency

The possibility that Taylor burrow spend the off-season looking at the game film 100 times realizing the changes from a formation game plan adjustment and scheme perspective that
Makes them better permanently

All great points.

(02-15-2022, 01:59 PM)pally Wrote: I've been in the half (plus) full glass all season and that isn't changing now.  This team improved dramatically from 2020 to 2021 when they weren't nearly done rebuilding the roster.  Give them another year to tweak things and with luck the sky is the limit

That's always key as well. The Bengals got just about every conceivable break this season.  Pretty lucky with health, fortunate bounces all season . Looked like it was continuing in the Superbowl with OBJ injury and facemask TD. It truly seemed like a team that was destined by the Universe to end as champion. It finally caught up to them right at the end. Call it the Law of Averages. It's a real thing. There is a real possibility that if the same Bengals' team played the season over with the same players they have right now, they may go 7-10 or 8-9, because they couldn't count on all the luck they had this season.  If they played next season's schedule with this same roster it wouldn't be shocking to see anywhere from 6 to 8 wins. They need a serious upgrade on the OL AND a lot of luck to match this season's win total. I 

(02-15-2022, 04:47 PM)Tomkat Wrote: Because "being better" sometimes isn't good enough.

You still need EVERY crucial break to go your way.  (team health, big plays, penalties, turnovers, etc)

THIS was the year that happened, until the Super Bowl.

Even Tom Brady with the Patriots went NINE YEARS without a Super Bowl appearance - it's just so difficult to make it.

The stars somehow aligned for the Bengals, this season, and they didn't take advantage.
They'll be GOOD going forward, for sure, probably consistently in the playoffs, winning division, etc
But, make it to the Super Bowl?  Eh, who knows... I'm not going to get my hopes up again.  Better to be pleasantly surprised.
I've done that for the last 51 years, why change now?

EDIT:  My heart says "half-full" - because I want to believe.  But, I'm a math, stat, logical type thinker, so my head says "half-empty."

You captured my feeling almost word for word. I don't have to post it now because you just said it all.  Excellent post.  HUGE missed opportunity that may or may not come again for decades.

(02-15-2022, 03:18 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I would love to be able to see posters ages posted with their screen names. I have a theory about those that blow up when a little adversity hits and they don't get exactly what they want, and when they were born. 

Been a fan since beginning of franchise, so this was my third Super Bowl. Optimistic about future, but very down about the loss on Sunday. Heck, it was only two days ago. I was a long, long time recovering from the 1988 season/1989 Super Bowl and I took this one even harder for two reasons.

One was that I way over-invested in the team this year, like never before. Not just every minute of every game, but recording and watching again. The opportunity was not there in the 1988 season. I think I got a little over obsessed and my schedule revolved around the games, finding ways to get out of other family commitments. 

Second, was that I thought this was finally the year. From the KC win in week 17, I thought the Bengals very likely would win it all. Right up until the 4th down almost sack/incompletion. I tried to temper my expectations, but this was a team that was healthy and hot and clutch. I wanted to experience one win in a Super Bowl before I'm on the other side of the ground.

i'm optimistic, but with one big caveat. This is not a franchise of a super rich tycoon like owns the Rams or the Cowboys, who made their money elsewhere. This is a franchise where the bottom line is everything to the owners. It is their business. So, will they actually spend the money or will they be crunching the dollars? I can't find any figures, but its even possible that they have lost money Super Bowl week with all the expenses for the team. The Rams owner is filthy rich and the Rams are his plaything. Not so with the Bengals owners. So, that is what I will be watching, whether the front office is willing to do what it takes. They owe it to the fans and I think they might invest in the offseason. But it might be like it was before these past two off seasons. We will see. If they go all out to win then I will feel a hell of a lot more optimistic.

(02-15-2022, 12:48 PM)FastEddie Wrote: I am looking around this board after the SuperBowl and see so many negative posts almost to the point of “we need to blow this team up and start over”. We were one play from winning the SuperBowl.

I‘d like to look at this year as an added bonus, nobody thought this team would even sniff the playoffs much less win three playoff games.

I am a glass half full person after this year. I have been a fan for nearly 50 years, so I’ve been through the bad years, so many years of listening to games on the radio and almost expecting the team to be down 21-0 at halftime every game because it happened a lot.

Consider the facts:
We are not one of the 9 teams who had to hire a new head coach this year, and we are not one of the teams who had a lot of our coaches poached from them like New England.

We have our quarterback of the future now. We aren’t like the teams who had quarterbacks retire on them this year and now will have to figure out how to replace them. Or a quarterback who isn't happy with their situation and wants a trade. Or one that might end up in prison.

In our own division, the Steelers overspent and didn’t make a succession plan so they are stuck with Rudolph or Haskins and they don’t put fear in many people. We don’t have Mayfield who makes players leave the team and tell others not to go to them. Even the Ravens aren’t what they used to be.

We are not one of the teams who is over the salary cap who are going to have to cut good players to try to meet the salary cap. Or not sign their free agents to save money. We have money to spend. And we hear all the time no about players wanting to come here to play. Most times in the past the Bengals were an afterthought unless you overpaid them to come here. Now it sounds like players want to come here. And the front office is actually spending money on good free agent, not bottom of the barrel free agents.

Yes the Rams bought their championship, but it seems like they already have players retiring, Beckham out for maybe a year, bringing retired players back who are re-retiring, over the cap, etc.

Our glass is half full and getting fuller.

Where? I didn't see those kinds of posts. Sure, that's true about the o line (and I'd also like to see the entire OL coaching staff axed since the OL has been being a problem, for years) but not the team as a whole.

Also, we picked up A LOT of new fans as of late. Us OG fans who caught the bug in 1981 when we were little kids, we are used to this level of disappointment and heart breaking losses. But noobs? Yeah, that's gotta be a shock to their system. 

(02-16-2022, 12:15 AM)Nepa Wrote: Been a fan since beginning of franchise, so this was my third Super Bowl. Optimistic about future, but very down about the loss on Sunday. Heck, it was only two days ago. I was a long, long time recovering from the 1988 season/1989 Super Bowl and I took this one even harder for two reasons.

One was that I way over-invested in the team this year, like never before. Not just every minute of every game, but recording and watching again. The opportunity was not there in the 1988 season. I think I got a little over obsessed and my schedule revolved around the games, finding ways to get out of other family commitments. 

Second, was that I thought this was finally the year. From the KC win in week 17, I thought the Bengals very likely would win it all. Right up until the 4th down almost sack/incompletion. I tried to temper my expectations, but this was a team that was healthy and hot and clutch. I wanted to experience one win in a Super Bowl before I'm on the other side of the ground.

i'm optimistic, but with one big caveat. This is not a franchise of a super rich tycoon like owns the Rams or the Cowboys, who made their money elsewhere. This is a franchise where the bottom line is everything to the owners. It is their business. So, will they actually spend the money or will they be crunching the dollars? I can't find any figures, but its even possible that they have lost money Super Bowl week with all the expenses for the team. The Rams owner is filthy rich and the Rams are his plaything. Not so with the Bengals owners. So, that is what I will be watching, whether the front office is willing to do what it takes. They owe it to the fans and I think they might invest in the offseason. But it might be like it was before these past two off seasons. We will see. If they go all out to win then I will feel a hell of a lot more optimistic.

LOL. The Brown's made money hand over fist this season. Probably more money this season than in any other season before.

With that said, this does sound just wee bit obsessive. I get like that about things too, so I get it. 

Maybe have someone change your board passwords for you and step away from the disappointment for a while. It definitely can't hurt.

(02-15-2022, 04:47 PM)Tomkat Wrote: Because "being better" sometimes isn't good enough.

You still need EVERY crucial break to go your way.  (team health, big plays, penalties, turnovers, etc)

THIS was the year that happened, until the Super Bowl.

Even Tom Brady with the Patriots went NINE YEARS without a Super Bowl appearance - it's just so difficult to make it.

The stars somehow aligned for the Bengals, this season, and they didn't take advantage.
They'll be GOOD going forward, for sure, probably consistently in the playoffs, winning division, etc
But, make it to the Super Bowl?  Eh, who knows... I'm not going to get my hopes up again.  Better to be pleasantly surprised.
I've done that for the last 51 years, why change now?

EDIT:  My heart says "half-full" - because I want to believe.  But, I'm a math, stat, logical type thinker, so my head says "half-empty."

This is where I’m at. I also HOPE they can re-sign joe. I think they will, but who the hell knows.

I am cautiously optimistic. I get 2004 Steelers (barf, I know, but bear with me) nd 2018 Chiefs vibes from this team - All 3 had a young quarterback in his first (full) year starting. A bit ahead of schedule, but young, talented, and hungry. All three had deep playoff runs that fell short. Our exit, however, was one round later. Should we return to the Super Bowl (tall order, I know), we will have experience. That stuff matters. Many of the Rams (players and coaches) were part of the 2018 team that went, and lost, 3 years ago. Bengals only had one player with prior SB experience (Ricardo Allen), and two coaches (Zac and I'm not sure who else). And, we have a lot of cap room, and are now a ring chaser destination. Hang in there, losing sucks but next year will be exciting.

I've been a vocal critic in the past but anyone talking about blowing it up now is either trolling or not worth your time. This team is loaded. They're about to embark on a run of 11- to 14-win seasons and primed to dominate the '20s. This is what we've been waiting for.

(02-15-2022, 05:32 PM)LSUfaninTN Wrote: Half full - almost won the Super Bowl, will hopefully be back

Half empty - you’re now stuck with Zac Taylor

“Stuck with?”

Zac Taylor just took his team that nobody expected to do anything to the Super Bowl and lost by 3 points. He out coached guys like Andy Reid (twice), Mike Tomlin (twice), John Harbaugh (twice), and COTY - Mike Vrabel.

He’s 38 years old. He’s only going to learn from his mistakes and get better (just like McVay did).

GTFOH with “stuck with.”

They gave me a hell of a ride and they’ve given me hope. Young talented squad that comes with no guarantees but I’ve got faith they will pushing for deep into the playoffs for the next few years.