Ive been a fan of the Bengals since the 80's, but really never thought about the legacy of this team. That was until today when I looked at this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cincinnati_Bengals_seasons

I don't know why its so shocking, but considering the fact in the history of this team we have only won playoff games in 3 seasons is pretty scary.

this lead me to another article https://www.foxsports.com/nfl/gallery/every-nfl-teams-postseason-record-ranked-from-32-to-1-010617

I mean Ive always known we were the Bungal's, but at this point its pretty clear that the brown family needs to sell ownership to someone else and open starbuck franchises or something because they are terrible at running a football organization.

What I find impressive about Bengals history is how good they were early on. I believe they made the playoffs their third season, in an era where expansion teams were pretty much scrap heap projects. The early-mid 70s saw an impressive team in the Queen City. Unfortunately for them that was a bad time to be good or even really good, with legendary teams like the Dolphins, Steelers, and Raiders lurking in conference.

(01-05-2018, 04:10 PM)ElkValleyBengal Wrote: What I find impressive about Bengals history is how good they were early on.  I believe they made the playoffs their third season, in an era where expansion teams were pretty much scrap heap projects.  The early-mid 70s saw an impressive team in the Queen City.  Unfortunately for them that was a bad time to be good or even really good, with legendary teams like the Dolphins, Steelers, and Raiders lurking in conference.

I go back to the beginning-1967.

when Paul was running things the Bengals were almost always competitive. They made the Super Bowl twice and easily could have won both games.

The big mistake by Paul Brown was hiring Tiger Johnson as Head Coach over Bill Walsh, probably because of seniority or friendship.

Paul did hire Sam Wyche- a Walsh clone of sorts.

In my opinion. Sam  was the greatest head coach in Bengal history. He was demanding and innovative and expected excellence. He was willing to try new things.

All of Sam's qualities are what we need in a coach and all of them completely conflict with Mike Brown's personality and his micro management style.

The franchise would have been so much different if Sam had not fallen out with Mike.  But that is who Mike Brown is and he is never changing.

(01-05-2018, 04:10 PM)ElkValleyBengal Wrote: What I find impressive about Bengals history is how good they were early on.  I believe they made the playoffs their third season, in an era where expansion teams were pretty much scrap heap projects.  The early-mid 70s saw an impressive team in the Queen City.  Unfortunately for them that was a bad time to be good or even really good, with legendary teams like the Dolphins, Steelers, and Raiders lurking in conference.

In back-to-back years in the mid 70's they went 11-3 and 10-4, which resulted in a grand total of one playoff loss. 21-7 record over two years. This thing where we're good, but not good enough for it to matter goes back a ways. 

(01-05-2018, 03:44 PM)Okeana Wrote: Ive been a fan of the Bengals since the 80's, but really never thought about the legacy of this team.  That was until today when I looked at this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cincinnati_Bengals_seasons

I don't know why its so shocking, but considering the fact in the history of this team we have only won playoff games in 3 seasons is pretty scary.  

this lead me to another article https://www.foxsports.com/nfl/gallery/every-nfl-teams-postseason-record-ranked-from-32-to-1-010617

I mean Ive always known we were the Bungal's, but at this point its pretty clear that the brown family needs to sell ownership to someone else and open starbuck franchises or something because they are terrible at running a football organization.

Worth noting that while Mike Brown has been owner, every single head coach has had at least one stretch of back-to-back losing seasons.
Shula never had a winning season in 4.5 years.
Coslet's only "winning" record in nearly 4 full seasons came from the 7-2 he had taking over midway through the 1996 season after Shula was gone.
LeBeau never had a winning record in his 2.75 years.
Marvin has had back-to-back losing seasons in 07-08 and now 16-17.

Sam Wyche and Forrest Gregg never had back-to-back losing seasons.

I can only imagine the reason Marvin is being kept because Mike Brown saw Forrest Gregg take the Bengals to the playoffs just twice (in four years - 50%), Wyche only took the Bengals to the playoffs just twice (in eight years - 25%), and thinks Marvin is worth keeping because he's taken the Bengals to the playoffs seven times (in 15 years - 46.7%). Marvin has had the most success getting to the playoffs!...Just ignore the playoff record obv.
Or maybe it's because Marvin has the same number of playoff wins with the Bengals as Paul Brown when he was HC...0 (0-3).

(01-05-2018, 04:10 PM)ElkValleyBengal Wrote: What I find impressive about Bengals history is how good they were early on.  I believe they made the playoffs their third season, in an era where expansion teams were pretty much scrap heap projects.  The early-mid 70s saw an impressive team in the Queen City.  Unfortunately for them that was a bad time to be good or even really good, with legendary teams like the Dolphins, Steelers, and Raiders lurking in conference.

Exactly....expansion teams often took decades to find relevance....exhibits A and B are the Buccaneers and Saints....yikes!  The 1970s Stoolers were just LOADED with talent.  When that started to fade out, the Bengals and Browns ruled the 80s in the old AFCC, with a sprinkle of Oilers.  The Bengals used to be an innovative and up and coming expansion franchise, then......

(01-05-2018, 04:18 PM)bengals67 Wrote: I go back to the beginning-1967.

when Paul was running things the Bengals were almost always competitive. They made the Super Bowl twice and easily could have won both games.

The big mistake by Paul Brown was hiring Tiger Johnson as Head Coach over Bill Walsh, probably because of seniority or friendship.

Paul did hire Sam Wyche- a Walsh clone of sorts.

In my opinion. Sam  was the greatest head coach in Bengal history. He was demanding and innovative and expected excellence. He was willing to try new things.

All of Sam's qualities are what we need in a coach and all of them completely conflict with Mike Brown's personality and his micro management style.

The franchise would have been so much different if Sam had not fallen out with Mike.  But that is who Mike Brown is and he is never changing.

.......the idiot '67 describes here comes along.  You also have to factor in the loss of Greg Cook, and how they were able to almost compensate for that with some pretty underwhelming QBs until Ken Anderson arrived.  They weren't on the Top 10 Snake Bitten Franchises for nothing.....

(01-05-2018, 04:31 PM)Striper Wrote: In back-to-back years in the mid 70's they went 11-3 and 10-4, which resulted in a grand total of one playoff loss. 21-7 record over two years. This thing where we're good, but not good enough for it to matter goes back a ways. 

That's true, but hell......even Earl Campbell and Bum Phillips couldn't unseat the damn Stoolers. I mean, count the HOFers on those squads.

(01-05-2018, 04:35 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Worth noting that while Mike Brown has been owner, every single head coach has had at least one stretch of back-to-back losing seasons.
Shula never had a winning season in 4.5 years.
Coslet's only "winning" record in nearly 4 full seasons came from the 7-2 he had taking over midway through the 1996 season after Shula was gone.
LeBeau never had a winning record in his 2.75 years.
Marvin has had back-to-back losing seasons in 07-08 and now 16-17.

Sam Wyche and Forrest Gregg never had back-to-back losing seasons.

I can only imagine the reason Marvin is being kept because Mike Brown saw Forrest Gregg take the Bengals to the playoffs just twice (in four years - 50%), Wyche only took the Bengals to the playoffs just twice (in eight years - 25%), and thinks Marvin is worth keeping because he's taken the Bengals to the playoffs seven times (in 15 years - 46.7%). Marvin has had the most success getting to the playoffs!...Just ignore the playoff record obv.
Or maybe it's because Marvin has the same number of playoff wins with the Bengals as Paul Brown when he was HC...0 (0-3).

Good point.  The thing that Paul did different, was, he traded for talent before FA was a thing.  Now, we dumpster dive in FA, and trades are like the Yeti around this place.  Look at the trades made during Paul Brown's stint as GM.  Some pretty damn good names, some on your 50th Anniversary team.....even a HOFer.

We have a history of losing young stars back then too...Mike Reid retired very young and Greg Cook lost his career to an injury that could be easily repaired these days.
Ever wonder if the Bengals are just a bad luck franchise?