(10-26-2017, 02:13 PM)ochocincos Wrote: This just openly confirms what many of us have assumed for so many years. Mike Brown is afraid of change and being a bottom-tier team again, so he is satisfied with the way his team has been.

(10-26-2017, 02:16 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: So to extrapolate that out...he must feel that Marvin is the reason for the success. Or a large portion of the success...and that when Marvin goes, the next guy will be worse.

That could very well be the case. Under the current management structure and cheap spending, we may have seen the max possible success this franchise can experience.

(10-26-2017, 01:15 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: Yeah, changing the head coach after 15 years, 7 failed playoff opportunities, 8-23 against your main rival and 8-30 in prime time games ... it isn't exactly a knee jerk reaction. 

(10-26-2017, 02:40 PM)ochocincos Wrote: And here's why I believe Mike Brown feels this way...under Mike Brown's tenure as owner for the Bengals (August 1991), the Bengals have never had a winning season until Marvin Lewis came. When you've never had something from someone else besides one person, you fear losing that person.

(10-26-2017, 02:08 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: 1. This sounds like Hobson prepping us for the bad news that's to come. (no change)

2. What a bunch of ____ing malarkey. "It's not the Patriots" - Yeah, no shit Sherlock. It's not the Chiefs, Steelers, Ravens, Packers, Seahawks, Broncos, or any other good franchise, either. Mike is hanging his hat on "we were sorta good recently". There's a huge gap between what we were and the Patriots. Speaking of "were"...

3. Why is he bringing up a string of regular season success that ended 2 years ago? Since starting 8-0 in 2015, the Bengals are 12-17-1. Why don't they acknowledge that instead of defending it? Only the Bengals would be so defiant and smug in the face of utter failure.


Ikr? Hobson sounds like a lot of posters we've had through the years. Take a valid argument and make it sound extreme. You want to be more active in free agency? Look at the Browns and Redskins. Ignoring all the successful teams that use FA, and that no one is asking for $100 million dollar guys. 

You want Marv or Ivory Tickler fired after 15/26 years? Clearly you haven't seen the Browns and Jags fire their coaches every year. Of course, this ignores the fact that (a) many teams turn it around under new coaches (think Rams this year), and (b) Marv is in his 15th year without a playoff win and is 8-13-1 since last year.

This is why I don't look at Bengals.com. Hobson echoes the thoughts of Mike Brown, and listening to Mike Brown makes my head hurt. The man is either a complete moron or he's only about making the Bengals profitable and thinks we're morons.

Rant over.

Quote:"...He thinks he’s close and he thinks any kind of change is a setback. Agree with him or disagree with him, but franchises like Buffalo, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Miami and others that keep changing coaches and quarterbacks like socks and cell phones reinforce his fears."

(10-26-2017, 02:40 PM)ochocincos Wrote: And here's why I believe Mike Brown feels this way...under Mike Brown's tenure as owner for the Bengals (August 1991), the Bengals have never had a winning season until Marvin Lewis came. When you've never had something from someone else besides one person, you fear losing that person.

(10-26-2017, 03:05 PM)Hoofhearted Wrote: Yeah, moments like this make me question this as well. I have no idea what so ever why he continually says stuff like this. It really makes me think that he is so damn set in his ways, he just doesn't give a rats a$$ what we think. Here's the plan; no deviating, no altering, no tinkering... If you don't like it, to bad. It makes me even more depressed that this is how it will probably always be ran... If he's stuck with "his plan" this long, I have no hope at all that he will drastically change anything in his approach. 

(10-26-2017, 04:18 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Mike Brown's business is the Cincinnati Bengals franchise. That's it. He's not like (nearly?) every other owner who has 1+ other companies and took on a NFL franchise as more of a profitable hobby. Maybe if Mike Brown has another good source of income outside of football he'd treat it more like a hobby and therefore be more passionate about winning it all?

(10-26-2017, 12:53 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: That has always been my problem with this line of thinking. 

He's looking at the worst examples and making that the basis for comparison - saying 'at least we're not them, but if we change things up, we could be'. 

Why not reverse the logic and use the best teams as the measuring stick - 'we want to be like them, and if we make some real changes, maybe we can be'. 

The thought process is frustrating to say the least. 

(10-26-2017, 02:08 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: This is why I don't look at Bengals.com. Hobson echoes the thoughts of Mike Brown, and listening to Mike Brown makes my head hurt. The man is either a complete moron or he's only about making the Bengals profitable and thinks we're morons.

(10-26-2017, 02:55 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: It's a total ego investment. By firing Marvin he will be admitting to doing things wrong for 26+ years.

The best we can hope for is Marvin moving on because Marvin wants to.

That said, I think Guenther will be like Marvin Jr.

(10-26-2017, 08:47 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: It's quite interesting - and pretty depressing - to compare Hobson's thoughts on Mike in the OP, with quotes from Mike (and a couple from Katie) in a Hobson article from 1997 about Mike not giving up control:

''I'm unhappy we haven't won. The fans are unhappy we haven't won. We understand that,'' Brown said. ''But I don't agree with the media suggestions for correcting it . . . We feel we've got people here who have the knowledge.''

''I'm used to it. I've been criticized for 30 years,'' Brown said.

''Everybody loves the GM who is hot. A few years ago it was Bobby Beathard when San Diego went to the Super Bowl,'' said Katie Blackburn, Brown's daughter who handles the Bengals' salary cap as the club's top negotiator.

''Now where are the Chargers? I think he should stick with it. We've had some good years around here. I think my Dad knows as much football as anyone out there.''

''If you have the bell cow quarterback, it works,'' said Brown, who saw it work with Otto Graham in the '50s, Ken Anderson in the '70s and Esiason in the '80s.

''You have to have the key guy. If you don't have the key guy, it doesn't matter . . . The system, changed (to free agency), but one thing that didn't change was you still had to line up with a key player or two. Look at San Francisco (Steve Young), Dallas (Aikman), Miami (Marino), Denver (John Elway). They were good before and after the system. I'm not disparaging other players because you need as many good ones as you can get. But the quarterback is the key guy. Look at Buffalo this year.''

''When people talk about scouting, it's a red herring for people who don't know what they're talking about,'' Brown said. ''We have all the information everybody else has. There are no secrets. When the Broncos got (running back) Terrell Davis in the sixth round, it wasn't like he wasn't on our board. We talked about him. If they were so sure fire smart, why didn't they take him in the first round? We have the same record as the Rams and they have (eight) scouts.''

''Some of what we do is required by our financial situation,'' Brown said. ''I don't apologize for it.''

Two decades later, I doesn't seem much at all has changed in terms of Mike's thinking. 

(10-26-2017, 09:18 PM)StoneTheCrow Wrote: How is it even possible to love a team that is run by people you entirely loathe? I seriously hate these people worse than I hate the Steelers. I wish I could quit ‘em.

(10-26-2017, 09:18 PM)StoneTheCrow Wrote: How is it even possible to love a team that is run by people you entirely loathe? I seriously hate these people worse than I hate the Steelers. I wish I could quit ‘em.