(01-02-2018, 12:19 PM)spazz70 Wrote: Barely above?  Really?   From the death of Paul Brown and the 1991 season until 2002 when Marvin arrived the Bengals were 55-137, that is an average of 4.5 wins per season.  We had 1, 2 win season, 4, 3 win seasons and one season at 8-8, our best season in a 12 year span.  Just for reference...We have 56 wins in the last 6 years, even with this year and last.  

(01-02-2018, 12:25 PM)Fullrock Wrote: Some of you obviously do not remember the 90's. Dave Shula, Bruce Coslet, Dick LeBeau (great D-coordinator, bad head coach), zero scouting staff, no Director of player personnel, Jeff Blake, Scott Mitchell, Neil O'Donnell, Gus Freaking Frerotte, Akili Smith, David Klingler. Jeff Query was a starting WR on some of those teams for God's sake. Seasons were over by the first of October. It was the Browns before the Browns. We can hate the current state of the organization all we want, but it is NO comparison to the comedy act that went on here in the 90's and early 2000's. Not even close.

(01-02-2018, 12:53 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I've been with this team as a fan since the beginning, and I can assure you, this is nothing like the 90's.....

I very much lived through the 90's and remember it well. We sucked bad in the 90's there's no doubt ! And since Marvin's arrival there's also no doubt things have been better. We've made the playoffs seven times and so on.

But if you take the Bengal vision glasses off and take a real hard look at things we're trending down - BAD !

Through the entirety of the Marvin Lewis tenure we've peaked at best of the mediocre. There's and outlier here and there but by and large the top 3rd of the league has owned us every season.

We all know the list. Can't win "big games", can't beat Pittsburgh, suck in prime time, 0-7 in the playoffs, get our brakes beat of in the 2nd half of games waayyyyy more often than not.

But the main thing I was talking about is the last 2 and 1/2 seasons, since the 8-0 start to 2015 this team has went downhill like a freight train coming off Mt. Everest !

We have seven wins (7) against teams not in the bottom 1/4 of the league over the last 40 games. And all 7 of those games are against other mediocre teams as well, 7-9 8-8 and so on. I believe the Bills this season are the only win against a playoff team in 2 and 1/2 seasons now. And if we didn't do a dead cat bounce the Bills wouldn't be in, what are they 9-7 ?

Does this team stink as bad as the 90's rosters ? NO

But we're a lot closer to the bottom 1/4 of the league than we are the top 1/4

And I have zero faith if Marvin truly does come back that we're ever going to get above best of the mediocre !

If you want to say we're doing good so be it. But I won't

One thing about the 90's, there was no hope. We KNEW playoffs were not an option. You didn't get your hopes up, get all excited; and proclaim "this is the year"! You look at today's team, and it looks pretty good in all areas, some great players, and many more than serviceable. We SHOULD be a team that shows better than what it does, but no. I can see both sides, but while this IS better, at the same time it ISN'T.

1995/1996 = 7-9 and 8-8
2016/2017 = 6-9-1 and 7-9

So we're worse than "the 90's".

(01-02-2018, 01:19 PM)Bengalsrob Wrote: One thing about the 90's, there was no hope. We KNEW playoffs were not an option. You didn't get your hopes up, get all excited; and proclaim "this is the year"! You look at today's team, and it looks pretty good in all areas, some great players, and many more than serviceable. We SHOULD be a team that shows better than what it does, but no. I can see both sides, but while this IS better, at the same time it ISN'T.

Totally disagree !

During the 90's there was hope that Mike Brown would wake up and change, next season.

26 years later it's so very obvious that hope is gone !

It's bad but not 90's bad.

Although when they announce rehiring Marvin (And I fully expect them to) it's going to be pretty bleak.

(01-02-2018, 01:19 PM)Bengalsrob Wrote: One thing about the 90's, there was no hope. We KNEW playoffs were not an option. You didn't get your hopes up, get all excited; and proclaim "this is the year"! 

Who does that now???

(01-02-2018, 12:20 PM)Takedown Wrote: This is worse. We've been stuck with Giggles for 15 years now with no playoff wins. At least we were offered somewhat hope with 3 different HC's 1990-1999. This is insanity.

Add another 3 years .  Giggles ain't going nowhere.  This is a joke of a franchise

(01-02-2018, 01:15 PM)Tomkat Wrote: So you had NO HOPE in 2015 before Dalton got hurt?
Lewis was our coach then and we definitely had hope!

In a simple word... Nope.

Lewis can’t do it on the big stage. And I have all the proof in the world to back that up with facts.

(01-02-2018, 01:27 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: 1995/1996 = 7-9 and 8-8
2016/2017 = 6-9-1 and 7-9

So we're worse than "the 90's".  

The "90's" didn't just consist of two years.......

1990= 9-7
1991= 3-13
1992= 5-11
1993= 3-13
1994= 3-13
1995= 7-9
1996= 8-8
1997= 7-9
1998= 3-13
1999= 4-12

The "90's" were 4 years of 3-13, one season 4-12 and exactly 1 season over .500%
Those of you thinking this is the same as the 90's either weren't there or were evidently high.....

(01-02-2018, 11:46 AM)spazz70 Wrote: Marvin Lewis quote...
"If I'm here, we're going to do everything in my power to be world champions," Lewis said. "That's what my job is and nothing short of that is acceptable."

But in the next breath he talks about how fans need to "say the course" after fifteen years.  Pure comedy.

At what point is "unacceptable" actually considered unacceptable, Marv?  Fifteen years?  Sixteen?  Twenty?     

(01-02-2018, 02:33 PM)Sled21 Wrote: The "90's" didn't just consist of two years.......

1990= 9-7
1991= 3-13
1992= 5-11
1993= 3-13
1994= 3-13
1995= 7-9
1996= 8-8
1997= 7-9
1998= 3-13
1999= 4-12

The "90's" were 4 years of 3-13, one season 4-12 and exactly 1 season over .500%
Those of you thinking this is the same as the 90's either weren't there or were evidently high.....

The 90s were an epic failure; perhaps one for the NFL record books, although it looks like the Browns of the 10"s will challenge it. A team that has made the playoffs 5 of the 8 years in this decade in no way compares to it,

WTS, a couple posters earlier made some points that I 100% agree with:

In a sick/twisted way I kind of miss the 90s. We knew we were going to lose and folks where happy with a win, this past week's being upset about a win shows just how far our focus has shifted. Also I got a leg up on the office "pick 'em the 3-4 times the Bengals won because I was the only one that ever beat them. 

Also we had Corey Dillon. Folks would be dogging me  about my Bengals and then I would bring up Corey Dillon; then they'd say: "You're right, that's a bad dude"

(01-02-2018, 02:33 PM)Sled21 Wrote: The "90's" didn't just consist of two years.......

1990= 9-7
1991= 3-13
1992= 5-11
1993= 3-13
1994= 3-13
1995= 7-9
1996= 8-8
1997= 7-9
1998= 3-13
1999= 4-12

The "90's" were 4 years of 3-13, one season 4-12 and exactly 1 season over .500%
Those of you thinking this is the same as the 90's either weren't there or were evidently high.....

Ya I know. I just think it's funny that "the 90's" includes a 2 year stretch that was better than our current 2 year stretch...yet we're worried about going back to the 90's?

What's the difference? We averaged 5.2 wins in the 90's and 6.5 wins over the last 2. Yay? All that matters is we're losing. 

(01-02-2018, 03:05 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: What's the difference?

The difference is that 2 seasons doesn't equal a LOST F**KING DECADE!
I swear some people just like to b¡tch for the sake of bitching.
I WANT MARVIN GONE, TOO!  But, stop acting like he was worse than he actually was.

(01-02-2018, 04:38 PM)Tomkat Wrote: The difference is that 2 seasons doesn't equal a LOST F**KING DECADE!
I swear some people just like to b¡tch for the sake of bitching.
I WANT MARVIN GONE, TOO!  But, stop acting like he was worse than he actually was.

And some people are content with mediocre. 

Registered to post in this thread. The 90's were so much worse than now and that's not to say that now is good, but back then we were the Browns of the day. Don't let some revisionism cloud your memories. The 90's sucked and we had almost no meaningful games late in the season. I knew going into every season the team had no shot at the playoffs. I'm not content with 0-7 in the playoffs or zero playoff wins since my 5th birthday, but the bar to clear to beat that era of Bengals football is not high and in the Lewis era almost every year has resulted in meaningful games in December. I'll take it over the perpetual 3-13 Bengals.

Let's look at those 3 years in the middle of the 90's that "weren't so bad". 95-97. In 95 they went 7-9, but were basically eliminated before December. In 96 they started 1-6 with David Shula as head coach and then finally fired him. Coslet somehow got them to 8-8, but they were never in the playoff hunt. They won 3 meaningless games at the end to save their jobs. 97 was actually my favorite year of the 90's because Boomer came back gunslinging and the second half was fun, but again, they never had a shot at the playoffs. They were 1-7 and the season was lost before they started playing well.

It's been better, it really has, we got to watch some fun regular season football most of the last 15 years. It probably should've been more fun than it was, but it's definitely been better than the 90's. To suggest otherwise is laughable.