We need to come back to reality, this team is not a playoff team.

Offense alone, is not enough to win in the NFL. I don’t think any team with even an average defense has won a Super Bowl. We are no where close to an average defense. We need to stop pretending that this team can make the playoffs, and possibly win a Super Bowl.

Drafting has been a disaster lately, free agents a bust, and defense only one time in 6 years finished average, at 16th.
We caught lightning in a bottle in 2021 and 2022, but that run is over.

If you can’t run the ball, stop the run, rush the QB, cover in the secondary, your toast. It will take major changes in players and DC and new schemes, to turn this team around. And it’s not happening this year.

(Yesterday, 12:12 PM)Timanky12 Wrote: We need to come back to reality, this team is not a playoff team.

Offense alone, is not enough to win in the NFL. I don’t think any team with even an average defense has won a Super Bowl. We are no where close to an average defense. We need to stop pretending that this team can make the playoffs, and possibly win a Super Bowl.

Drafting has been a disaster lately, free agents a bust, and defense only one time in 6 years finished average, at 16th.
We caught lightning in a bottle in 2021 and 2022, but that run is over.

If you can’t run the ball, stop the run, rush the QB, cover in the secondary, your toast. It will take major changes in players and DC and new schemes, to turn this team around. And it’s not happening this year.

We have even worse things going on. Against the Ravens, we were zinging. Playing at a high level. Then, Chase Brown fumbled and we were done. Collapsed. All momentum gone. Couldn't stop the Ravens. Couldn't score.

Fragile team.

(Yesterday, 11:48 AM)PhilHos Wrote: Dude, like you, I'm one of the few optimistic posters around here. While I'm hopeful we can make a run and I definitely see it as a possibility - more so than most - the Steelers are the team that concerns me th emost and we play them twice.

Good thing they're right after the bye. If we beat them after the bye, then you best believe I'm on the "we're winning out" train. A loss, though and even I will give up on this team for the rest of the season.

I don't see us stopping the Steelers pass rush.

Which has better odds?

Bengals winning out or Joe Burrow pulling a Palmer and threatening retirement?

Burrow has to be seeing the years slipping by him with this team. I wouldn't blame him one bit to seek employment elsewhere. And Chase too for that matter.
I think the main reason Mike Brown and FO refuse to give up total control is after living thru what Art Modell did to Paul Brown in Cleveland. But on the other hand they would still control ownership even if they handed the keys to real football pro's and said bring me a SB or two. Are they that stubborn to see their ways just don't work with the people they have in place now upstairs for decades?

(Yesterday, 12:12 PM)Timanky12 Wrote: We need to come back to reality, this team is not a playoff team.

Offense alone, is not enough to win in the NFL. I don’t think any team with even an average defense has won a Super Bowl. We are no where close to an average defense. We need to stop pretending that this team can make the playoffs, and possibly win a Super Bowl.

Drafting has been a disaster lately, free agents a bust, and defense only one time in 6 years finished average, at 16th.
We caught lightning in a bottle in 2021 and 2022, but that run is over.

If you can’t run the ball, stop the run, rush the QB, cover in the secondary, your toast. It will take major changes in players and DC and new schemes, to turn this team around. And it’s not happening this year.

Yeah, so many needs right now. You could get an Abdul Carter (a Micah Parson's type player) in the first round and fix some of the serious defensive issues, but then the Bengals still have a very bad OL and Burrow getting abused. You could go for OL and then continue with one of the worse defenses in the league, with only Hendrickson as a star player. And at this point I don't trust the Bengals drafting after the 1st round. 

They really need to spend money on the scouting department. So many head-scratching picks each draft. I generally come on this board to rate the drafts a "C" each time, but read the comments and how everyone thinks these were an "A" draft and I get my hopes up, only to be dashed by the actual performance of the players. I'm finding it hard to find hope for the future of this team unless there are major investments.

I ran the ESPN playoff machine yesterday, and if we win out, the Colts will need to lose to Detroit this week (highly probable) and Denver later on (probable) for us to get in.

Burrow has 3,028 passing yards, 27 TDs and 4 INTs this season.
The Bengals are 4-7.
Make it make sense.

(Yesterday, 02:26 PM)Old Dipstick Wrote: Burrow has 3,028 passing yards, 27 TDs and 4 INTs this season.
The Bengals are 4-7.
Make it make sense.

We have the leading passer and leader receiver in the NFL. The sack leader too. 

The thing is there is no middle ground with the roster... they are either peak-NFL players, or they are hot garbage.

Problem is, is that our top end guys are about 5 guys on the entire team... it's just a really lopsided and poorly built team. Some of it is age, some of it is regression, a lot of it is not plugging gaps sufficiently... i.e. drafting like crap.

If you'd have told me pre-season that Burrow's wrist would be fine and he'd be playing at this level, I'd certainly have assumed we made the playoffs at the least. And we won't be anywhere near them I imagine. 

As for the topic... the Bengals are not winning 6 straight... we've beaten literally nobody this year, and lost to any team who have any quality. This was becoming clear prior to the weekend, but the Chargers loss is absolutely nail in the coffin. Peak Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase are ripping everyone a new one, and we're still losing games frequently... it's done.

So here's the thing: this is a MB where we can talk about a variety of topics. Even if things look awful and a massive hill to climb (we know in our heads the season has basically slipped away), the chance is not 0.

Thus, with all of the above criteria, a guy starts a thread to talk about the possibility of a NOT-impossible thing happening and you all shit on him and get sarcastic?

**** all y'all, as you guys from the south say. If he wants to talk about it, let him.

Shit attitudes.