(12-26-2016, 01:25 PM)Devils Advocate Wrote: I don't care which team you root for.

We're all unhappy with the way this season has taken shape. We all have an opinion for changes.

However, they've lost a lot of close games this year. It happens.

Hell, the two teams in last year's Super Bowl aren't returning to the playoffs either and Carolin's had as miserable a season as we did.

It ain't easy being a fan of this team for sure but it says a lot about your character if you can stick through it without taking the easy road and rooting for the latest and greatest.

(12-26-2016, 02:11 PM)BonnieBengal Wrote: I'm a 35 plus year fan.  At some point you have to wonder if we fans haven't reached the definition of insanity.  (Doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result.)  And for fans who have never seen one playoff win in their entire life, you have to think they must be wondering if it's time to know when to quit.  

(12-26-2016, 01:25 PM)Devils Advocate Wrote: I don't care which team you root for.

We're all unhappy with the way this season has taken shape. We all have an opinion for changes.

However, they've lost a lot of close games this year. It happens.

Hell, the two teams in last year's Super Bowl aren't returning to the playoffs either and Carolin's had as miserable a season as we did.

It ain't easy being a fan of this team for sure but it says a lot about your character if you can stick through it without taking the easy road and rooting for the latest and greatest.

(12-26-2016, 03:52 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Don't you see the difference there ? Super Bowl teams ? We can't get a single playoff win !!!!

We've had Marvin Lewis and the merry band of tenured bums (Wyche saying) for years and MB refuses to change and put winning as the goal. Loyalty and money are his goals.

Sorry major difference. You're comparing apples to oranges.

(12-26-2016, 03:52 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: We've had Marvin Lewis and the merry band of tenured bums (Wyche saying) for years

(12-26-2016, 03:09 PM)Devils Advocate Wrote: That is Albert Einstein's interpretation of insanity. By no means is it the definition. I get your point though.

If you wanna abdicate your fan hood, do it at your new team's website.


As a fan since the 70's, I've been put through the ringer right along with the rest of you. Being a fan for so long, I don't need to hear about how fed up you are. I know all about it.

Still, as a longtime fan, I can't help but feel some level of abandonment personally when other fans yap about leaving. I don't care if anyone leaves, but don't be a freakin' Prima Donna about it.

So if you're gonna jump ship; do it with integrity -- in silence.

(12-26-2016, 09:23 PM)BonnieBengal Wrote: I didn't say I was jumping ship.  And no you don't get my point at all. Your reply tells me that.  I said there is a danger of younger people who have never seen any playoff victories giving up on this team.  Mike Brown needs to realize his fan base is going to die out.  I know a lot of younger people from Cincinnati who have already given up and are rooting for other teams. I've been rooting for this team as long or longer than you, and yes, sometimes I do think I'm crazy to do it, but I'm not jumping ship. I can feel for those, however, who didn't get to see a single playoff win, and see how they might jump ship, and I get it.

(12-26-2016, 11:21 PM)Devils Advocate Wrote: I used 'you' as a general statement to obviate my already lengthy reply. I didn't mean you personally.

I think you're over reacting about the fan base dying out. As soon as this team wins 11 or 12 games again, they'll be back in mass; if they ever left at all.

(12-26-2016, 09:23 PM)BonnieBengal Wrote: I know a lot of younger people from Cincinnati who have already given up and are rooting for other teams.

(12-27-2016, 10:20 AM)fredtoast Wrote: Nothing Mike Brown can do about fans who only root for winners.  No team is going to win every year, so those type of fans are not going to stick with their "other teams" very long.

Being a fan of the home team is about an emotional attachment not about winning championships.  If this were not true then the Cubs would have had zero fans, but we all saw that that was not true.

Screw bandwagon fans.  They are not real fans anyway.

(12-26-2016, 04:22 PM)Devils Advocate Wrote: I disagree. Fans are upset the Bengals aren't going to the post season. Had they finished 12-4 this year, optimism would be abundant. So it's really apples to apples.

Nevertheless, trust me, I get the frustration. I am frustrated too. But they've lost several close games this year -- it happens. There's no reason to be pessimistic for next year.

(12-27-2016, 07:29 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: I think for many, it's really not just about missing the playoffs.

They did finish 12-4 last year. They did make the playoffs. There was optimism, just as there has been in previous seasons, but it ended - yet again - in an utterly embarrassing and disappointing fashion. 

To varying degrees, the last 26 years have been a continuous exercise in futility of some fashion...from the complete ineptitude that was the '90's to the complete ineptitude in the postseason under Marvin.

When you say there's no reason to be pessimistic going into next year, I respect your opinion, but I can also see good reasons why other people may not share it. 

(12-27-2016, 06:13 PM)BonnieBengal Wrote: There's a difference between fans who only root for winners and fans who have not seen the Bengals win a playoff game in their entire lifetime, and also see the owner refusing to make changes.  And now  I suppose you will tell me about coaches who had to be hired last year because better coaches left and tout that as "change".  Meanwhile, Marvin doesn't get it done and nothing changes.

(12-27-2016, 07:29 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: I think for many, it's really not just about missing the playoffs.

They did finish 12-4 last year. They did make the playoffs. There was optimism, just as there has been in previous seasons, but it ended - yet again - in an utterly embarrassing and disappointing fashion. 

To varying degrees, the last 26 years have been a continuous exercise in futility of some fashion...from the complete ineptitude that was the '90's to the complete ineptitude in the postseason under Marvin.

When you say there's no reason to be pessimistic going into next year, I respect your opinion, but I can also see good reasons why other people may not share it. 

(12-27-2016, 10:29 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: The Bengals are light years away from being competitive. I watched lots of other teams this year just to compare and as much as I love Cincinnati -- and I'll always love my hometown Reds and Bengals -- I have to sadly admit not even the best Marvin Lewis teams had a chance in the playoffs. None.

(12-28-2016, 12:21 AM)Murdock2420 Wrote: If the question is "How do you continue watching if Marvin Lewis returns?" Well the answer is simple, with enough alcohol to kill an elephant pumping through your veins. The blackouts make the bad play calls and crap coaching much easier to tolerate since you only have to read about them after the fact. But, that's just my strategy for dealing with Marvin and Mike Brown's bumbling, fumbling ways it may not be for everyone.

(12-27-2016, 10:29 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: The Bengals are light years away from being competitive. I watched lots of other teams this year just to compare and as much as I love Cincinnati -- and I'll always love my hometown Reds and Bengals -- I have to sadly admit not even the best Marvin Lewis teams had a chance in the playoffs. None.

(12-26-2016, 04:45 PM)fredtoast Wrote: We have a first year OC, a second year DC, and had to replace 4 coaches from our staff last year (Hue Jackson, Vance Joseph, Jay Hayes, Matt Burke)