ESPN DOWN GRADES BENGALS DUE TO HEAD COACH

[*Nately120*]

(07-16-2017, 02:21 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Or if you make the playoffs 5 of 6 years. Winning your division a couple times along the way, redefine what failure is. Stupid Bengals fans

Meh, Steelers and Patriots fans talk about Super Bowls, Bengals fans talk about making the playoffs, and Browns fans talk about winning 7 games.  After the 2011 season if someone would have asked what you think comes first:  playoff win or 6-win season which would you have picked?

We shall see what ol' Mike and Marv dial up this year.  You just have to admit the "Bengals dynasty" we've been experiencing with the one-n-dones played better before this latest season.

[*SHRacerX*]

(07-15-2017, 10:58 AM)Nately120 Wrote: That's all well and good, but you have to admit the one thing you love more than just about everything except your family is a business that is run by a guy who isn't trying to make said business as great as it can be.  Carson Palmer was an employee who didn't feel the organization was trying to win and he wanted to play for one that was.  So be it.  The fact that you think Carson is a piss poor QB is also telling of your sour grapes mentality because he was top 3 at least once in Cincy and he's been top 3 once since he left.  The guy has been an NFL starting QB for over a decade and you can ask the Browns/Texans/Jets etc if those sort of players grow on trees.  

Only in pro sports do people like you and me take to heart the way a business is run.  I can't imagine us rooting for various sandwich shops and taking it personally when they do well, or don't do well, or hire and fire and lose employees.

I disagree with your sentiment about Mr. Brown.  I don't need to supply evidence of why I believe that, but that is my opinion. 

As far as Carson being "Top 3" twice in his career goes, yes, he was.  Early in his career here and late in his career at AZ.  Twice, out of 12 seasons.  I won't call him piss poor, but he sure wasn't playing like a #1 overall draft pick toward the end of his time here.  

He has been a starting QB for three teams now, two of which were loaded with talent and he did well in those instances.  He sucked in Oakland.  Couldn't even match what Jason Campbell did there.  So does that make Palmer great?  Had he gone to one of the teams you mentioned that need a QB (Browns, Texans, Jets), he would have likely been killed with no line and sucked there as well.  

Only in Pro Sports are there CONTRACTS, WHICH 99.9% OF THE REST OF THE LEAGUE PLAYS UNDER UNTIL EITHER RELEASED OR THE CONTRACT ENDS.  But not quitter....he had socked away over $100 million from his employer, which gave him the leverage to piss and moan his way out of town.  

BTW, even though he has two of the worst teams in the NFL in his division (Rams and 49ers), he will suck again this year.  

[*bengalfan74*]

(07-16-2017, 10:59 AM)Nately120 Wrote: Meh, this whole narrative that we are a consistent winner than the rest of the NFL should hold in high regard played a lot better before we won 6 games and missed the playoffs by a mile.  Optimism is all well and good, but you have to admit the bar around here is set pretty low if we are supposed to hold our heads up high and rub our proverbial one-n-done rings in people's faces.

Marvin Lewis is what winning looks like to Bengals fans only...it reminds me of the way 4 straight SB losses only looked like winning to Bills fans.  If you can't win it all, redfine what winning is.

Exactly !

Nowhere outside of the Cincinnati area are the Bengals considered a winning franchise ! And not just because of fan bias, it's because we're not a winning franchise.

Every time I start reading a post that has the "made the playoffs blah blah blah" in it I throw up a little bit in my mouth. Yipppeeeeeeee ! We're half a tick higher than all the 8-8 teams. We're the best of the mediocre's !

And they Champion this as a measure of success. ASTONISHING

And how it's not completely crystal clear that Marvin Lewis is not the answer ? BAFFLING

[Pat5775]

(07-16-2017, 02:21 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Or if you make the playoffs 5 of 6 years. Winning your division a couple times along the way, redefine what failure is. Stupid Bengals fans

Wow. So Bengal fans who want the team to take the necessary (and long overdue) steps towards winning a championship and not stick with the status quo are stupid. How ironic

[Pat5775]

(07-16-2017, 02:12 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Not sure I would put Jeff Blake in the unable to hand out Gatorade category. But that's just me

Forgive me. You said "Career QB's drafted during the MB era that have demanded a trade". Blake wasn't drafted by us. I assumed you were talking about QB's drafted by Cincy. But either way, you got one. One QB in your criteria that wasn't complete garbage.

[grampahol]

I gotta admit that all these sports sites rankings of various kinds are about as important to me as those stubborn stains at the bottom of a trash can when I decide to wash it out with the garden hose and much to my disgrace I never really have invested heavily in stubborn trash can stain removal chemicals so I have to live with them. Once in awhile I might toss a little bleach in the can and let it sit for a few minutes, but overall I have spent precious few hours sobbing into my pillow over either issue. 
I know..my fault for the Bengals post season record because I don't care enough about those stubborn stains. 

[*Nately120*]

(07-16-2017, 05:06 PM)SHRacerX Wrote: I disagree with your sentiment about Mr. Brown.  I don't need to supply evidence of why I believe that, but that is my opinion. 

As far as Carson being "Top 3" twice in his career goes, yes, he was.  Early in his career here and late in his career at AZ.  Twice, out of 12 seasons.  I won't call him piss poor, but he sure wasn't playing like a #1 overall draft pick toward the end of his time here.  

He has been a starting QB for three teams now, two of which were loaded with talent and he did well in those instances.  He sucked in Oakland.  Couldn't even match what Jason Campbell did there.  So does that make Palmer great?  Had he gone to one of the teams you mentioned that need a QB (Browns, Texans, Jets), he would have likely been killed with no line and sucked there as well.  

Only in Pro Sports are there CONTRACTS, WHICH 99.9% OF THE REST OF THE LEAGUE PLAYS UNDER UNTIL EITHER RELEASED OR THE CONTRACT ENDS.  But not quitter....he had socked away over $100 million from his employer, which gave him the leverage to piss and moan his way out of town.  

BTW, even though he has two of the worst teams in the NFL in his division (Rams and 49ers), he will suck again this year.  

You can get all uppity about the quitting angle, but the guy has made it closer to a super bowl than we've been in almost 30 years and he was in the MVP conversation in 2015.  You act like he's Mark Sanchez, or something.  Either way, it was nice of the Cardinals to drag Palmer that deep in the playoffs, I guess.

[*bfine32*]

(07-19-2017, 04:39 PM)Nately120 Wrote: You can get all uppity about the quitting angle, but the guy has made it closer to a super bowl than we've been in almost 30 years and he was in the MVP conversation in 2015.  

...and you can get all uppity about the leaving for a chance to win angle; but only if you ignore he left us for Oakland. 

 

[*Nately120*]

(07-19-2017, 04:52 PM)bfine32 Wrote: ...and you can get all uppity about the leaving for a chance to win angle; but only if you ignore he left us for Oakland. 

 

I'm not uppity.  I will say that you are assuming the only trade offer the Bengals got from him was from Oakland.  Ah, but Oakland was one Tebow miracle away from making it into the playoffs that year, and making into the playoffs is apparently solid gold according to us Bengals fans.

I wouldn't even say Palmer left "to win" but to play football somewhere else.  

[*SHRacerX*]

(07-19-2017, 04:39 PM)Nately120 Wrote: You can get all uppity about the quitting angle, but the guy has made it closer to a super bowl than we've been in almost 30 years and he was in the MVP conversation in 2015.  You act like he's Mark Sanchez, or something.  Either way, it was nice of the Cardinals to drag Palmer that deep in the playoffs, I guess.

"All uppity"?  What does that mean?  The fact that I have certain values that would prevent me from taking a dump on the team that drafted me and made me one of the top paid QBs of all time makes me uppity?  

And how did Palmer do against those Panthers?  Was 23 of 40 for 235 yards with 4 INTs, 1 TD and two fumbles lost not worse than any Dalton playoff game?  And he was in his 10th season?  

Sorry, winning one playoff game in 12 seasons does not make Palmer a great QB.  Dalton will FAR SURPASS everything the quitter has ever done....except quitting.  Palmer wins that one.  

[*Nately120*]

(07-20-2017, 08:28 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: "All uppity"?  What does that mean?  The fact that I have certain values that would prevent me from taking a dump on the team that drafted me and made me one of the top paid QBs of all time makes me uppity?  

And how did Palmer do against those Panthers?  Was 23 of 40 for 235 yards with 4 INTs, 1 TD and two fumbles lost not worse than any Dalton playoff game?  And he was in his 10th season?  

Sorry, winning one playoff game in 12 seasons does not make Palmer a great QB.  Dalton will FAR SURPASS everything the quitter has ever done....except quitting.  Palmer wins that one.  

Welp, we can agree to disagree on this one yet again.  I will point out that I don't recall saying Palmer was a great QB, nor did I say he was better than Dalton. You seem like you either won't or can't debate this and would rather act like Mike Brown is the type of employer who deserves loyal followers.

I will say that if Palmer is as bad as you think he is that he is actually validated for leaving the Bengals to get with an organization where even a crap QB like him could experience more success than he had before. Maybe we can agree on that. The Bengals are such a crap organization that Palmer had to leave in order to accomplish anything in the NFL. I can handle that. Maybe Dalton is man enough to spend his entire NFL career playing for an organization so disinterested in winning that it is a veritable "HARD MODE" of football. I guess we could consider that sort of heroic.

You have your "never quit, ever ever ever" values and I have my "don't feel inclined to spend your entire career working for someone who is incompetent" values.

[*SHRacerX*]

(07-20-2017, 06:10 PM)Nately120 Wrote: "...and would rather act like Mike Brown is the type of employer who deserves loyal followers."

 "The Bengals are such a crap organization..."

"...working for someone who is incompetent" 

All of these things are your opinion toward the man that suffered as owner through some really bad draft picks that simply didn't pan out or had significant injuries.  Before the rookie wage scale, a series of drafts like Klingler, Ki-Jana, Reinard Wilson, and Akili Smith would set your franchise back a decade...and it did.

Since then, he has brought in the right coaches and the Bengals have also improved their scouting.  They have become somewhat of a "cradle of coaches" as there are now four of the 32 HC positions occupied by recent Bengal assistants (Hue, Gruden, Vance Joseph, and Zimmer) and that doesn't even include Marv.  Obviously, there is something they are doing right in their coaching positions.

As far as loyalty goes, there isn't going to be much in the NFL.  But, I will say that Mike Brown is one of, if not THE, only owners that honors the contracts of their employees.  Yes, he released Rey Maualuga, but he paid Leon Hall $9 million when he could have probably released him and resigned him for less than half of that.  I would think agents would convey this to their athletes, but since many want more contracts instead of just honoring their existing contracts I could be wrong.  But Mr. Brown is incredibly loyal to his players and coaches.  Some would say to his detriment.  So, I guess to answer your question....Yes, I do think he is the type of employer who deserves loyal followers. 

Calling the organization crap and incompetent only means you feel that there are about three or four teams in the NFL that aren't, because the Bengals have one of the best records in the NFL going all the way back to 2004, when Marv started.  I know they haven't won a playoff game, but they have been there seven times in 13 years....a rate of over 50%.  In the past six, they have been there five of them....a rate over 80%.  You can slam them all you want for not winning in the playoffs, but we have all gone round and round about why that happened game by game.  

I have a VERY competitive team that I love watching.  They have been this way pretty much since Marv took over with the exception of a few clunker seasons.  If you are going to call Mr. Brown's organization crap and incompetent for the 90s, you have to at least give them some credit for their performance in the past 13 years.  

[Shake n Blake]

(07-21-2017, 09:36 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: I have a VERY competitive team that I love watching.  They have been this way pretty much since Marv took over with the exception of a few clunker seasons.  If you are going to call Mr. Brown's organization crap and incompetent for the 90s, you have to at least give them some credit for their performance in the past 13 years.  

How much praise do you think they should get for a .533 record with record-setting playoff futility? The national media doesn't think Marv should even have a job...so why do you look at the same results and think he and the organization deserve praise?



Btw...there were way more problems in the 90's than just 4 busts (1 of which wasn't even that bad). Among the problems:

1. Impatience with QBs. Blake, O'Donnell and Boomer were good enough if they would've just built around them.
2. Hiring bad coaches. Shula for 5 years. Coslet was never a good HC anywhere. LeBeau wasn't a good HC either.
3. Ignoring free agency. 
4. Legendary cheapness (small towels, renting out TV's at camp, charging for drinks, etc). I can't imagine the negative impact on player mentality this would have.

That's just a portion of it, and it all traced back to MB. He's only changed some of it, and tbh I'm not going to be thankful that he's "getting closer" to running a legit NFL franchise. He's still behind the times on a lot of aspects, and that certainly doesn't help us in our quest to end the quarter-century long playoff drought. I'm also not going to be thankful to Marv for being thoroughly mediocre, getting owned by our chief rival and being incomprehensibly bad in playoffs/prime-time.

[*SHRacerX*]

(07-21-2017, 12:51 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: How much praise do you think they should get for a .533 record with record-setting playoff futility? The national media doesn't think Marv should even have a job...so why do you look at the same results and think he and the organization deserve praise?



Btw...there were way more problems in the 90's than just 4 busts (1 of which wasn't even that bad). Among the problems:

1. Impatience with QBs. Blake, O'Donnell and Boomer were good enough if they would've just built around them.
2. Hiring bad coaches. Shula for 5 years. Coslet was never a good HC anywhere. LeBeau wasn't a good HC either.
3. Ignoring free agency. 
4. Legendary cheapness (small towels, renting out TV's at camp, charging for drinks, etc). I can't imagine the negative impact on player mentality this would have.

That's just a portion of it, and it all traced back to MB. He's only changed some of it, and tbh I'm not going to be thankful that he's "getting closer" to running a legit NFL franchise. He's still behind the times on a lot of aspects, and that certainly doesn't help us in our quest to end the quarter-century long playoff drought. I'm also not going to be thankful to Marv for being thoroughly mediocre, getting owned by our chief rival and being incomprehensibly bad in playoffs/prime-time.

As I said, they went to five consecutive playoff appearances with Dalton.  That is saying something.  You can make it a % and try to diminish where they are now versus where they were in the 90s, but the truth of the matter is, in 2005 they were good enough to win a Super Bowl, but Palmer got Kimo'd.  In 2015, they were good enough to win a Super Bowl, but Dalton got himself injured.  Had those two seasons ended with Championships, I'm sure you would be singing a very different tune.  I know, I know....if ifs and butts were sugar and nuts, I'd own a candy store.  The bottom line is:  They have been contenders almost every year since Marv took over...only one team wins it all....and the Bengals are at least in the race.  

The cheif rival argument is lame because the Bengals have similarly owned the ratbirds....And I HATE the steelers.  

I hear everything you are saying, Shake, and I respect you, but you are seriously not going to let the national media that loves to kick a team when they are down influence what you know it the truth:  This team should be revered for what their original coach and owner brought to the NFL, for the innovation of the Ohio River Offense, and the fact that this year, they will FINALLY step on the ($&#@ throats of their opponents and win the whole #$(&@@ thing. 

[Shake n Blake]

(07-21-2017, 11:46 PM)SHRacerX Wrote: As I said, they went to five consecutive playoff appearances with Dalton.  That is saying something.  You can make it a % and try to diminish where they are now versus where they were in the 90s, but the truth of the matter is, in 2005 they were good enough to win a Super Bowl, but Palmer got Kimo'd.  In 2015, they were good enough to win a Super Bowl, but Dalton got himself injured.  Had those two seasons ended with Championships, I'm sure you would be singing a very different tune.  I know, I know....if ifs and butts were sugar and nuts, I'd own a candy store.  The bottom line is:  They have been contenders almost every year since Marv took over...only one team wins it all....and the Bengals are at least in the race.  

The cheif rival argument is lame because the Bengals have similarly owned the ratbirds....And I HATE the steelers.  

I hear everything you are saying, Shake, and I respect you, but you are seriously not going to let the national media that loves to kick a team when they are down influence what you know it the truth:  This team should be revered for what their original coach and owner brought to the NFL, for the innovation of the Ohio River Offense, and the fact that this year, they will FINALLY step on the ($&#@ throats of their opponents and win the whole #$(&@@ thing. 

I respect you too, SHRacer. Always have. We just disagree here, and maybe I'm just more jaded, but constantly getting your hopes up, only to be let down time and again tends to have that effect on some. 

To your first paragraph, yes on the "if's and but's" part. If it were just 1 or 2 occurrences or excuses, then sure...but I can't excuse 7 playoff games. Something has to systematically be wrong in order for that to occur. Especially when we see the same problems each time. A dead offense. A defense that suddenly loses it's bite. Not being able to put together a full half of football.

There's just way too much evidence that Marvin is a serious issue. 

The chief rival argument isn't lame. We have a solid record against the Ravens, but we haven't owned them like the Steelers have owned us for 14 years running.

To your last paragraph, yes this team has a lot to be proud of from the 70's and 80's. I wish we could get back to that. I've never viewed these Marv teams to be serious contenders...and neither has the media outside of a couple exceptions where they were fooled. I hate PFT, but they had a point when they did our season preview (which was surprisingly fair). They pointed out our record from 2011-2015 as a reason we could bounce back, but said no one considered the Bengals a contender due to the 0-5 playoff record. They were right. Real contenders do better than that.

[*SHRacerX*]

(07-22-2017, 01:57 AM)Shake n Blake Wrote: To your first paragraph, yes on the "if's and but's" part. If it were just 1 or 2 occurrences or excuses, then sure...but I can't excuse 7 playoff games. 

 I hate PFT, but they had a point when they did our season preview (which was surprisingly fair). They pointed out our record from 2011-2015 as a reason we could bounce back, but said no one considered the Bengals a contender due to the 0-5 playoff record. They were right. Real contenders do better than that.

I get it.  This is why most look at the Bengals as "pretenders", but it you go year by year and really look at what happened, I don't think it should matter:

Year 1- We were thrilled to be there.  A 9-7 team with a rookie QB and a TON of youth.  Get some experience.  Playing with house money.

Year 2- Houston again.  The team makes it closer, but the offensive scheme is to avoid their #1 weapon and Gresham is, well, Gresham, and drops about 5 catchable balls.  They weren't going to make the big game this year, but they could have beaten the Texans.

Year 3- The Chargers, at home.  Everyone assumed this would be the easy win.  And it might have been had Geno not been injured and the Chargers pounded the Bengals in their running game.  Dalton was not good, with two INTs and a fumble, but he did throw for 332 yards.  Gio's fumble at the opponents 5 yard line was a critical mistake.  Team loss.  All three phases sucked.  So did the coaching.  This is one that really, really hurt.

Year 4- At Indy-  The M*A*S*H unit game.  Rex Burkhead got his first shot as slot WR.  Brandon Tate was a starting WR.  AJ Green, Gresham, and others were all out for this game.  Dalton was solid, but the defense couldn't stop anything.   This one was probably the least painful of them all.

Year 5-  pitt at Home.  The worst officiated game of all time (I know, wah, dry your eyes).  Disgusting game on both sides of the field.  This game was over.  Done.  The playoff monkey was exercised...with our backup QB!  And you know how it ended.  

I will not hold this team accountable for the 2005 and 2009 losses, as there is almost no one from those teams left.  In fact, I think there is no one.

These five losses are understandable in three cases, one sucked big time (SD), and one was an absolute rectal (pitt...why would we expect anything else?).  So, I really only see one game where the Bengals should have been able to outplay and beat handily the opponent.  One game.  Gio fumbled.  Geno was injured.  Dalton fumbled.  It was a bad game.  I am not going to paint them in to a corner based on what is really one bad game.  

I'm not saying no one else should.  I get it, but to say their playoff record is why they won't go anywhere this year (PFT, etc) is no different than saying they have a team of thugs, and should all be in jail.   That is ancient history.  This year, they will prove it.  

[Shake n Blake]

(07-22-2017, 09:09 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: I get it.  This is why most look at the Bengals as "pretenders", but it you go year by year and really look at what happened, I don't think it should matter:

Year 1- We were thrilled to be there.  A 9-7 team with a rookie QB and a TON of youth.  Get some experience.  Playing with house money.

Year 2- Houston again.  The team makes it closer, but the offensive scheme is to avoid their #1 weapon and Gresham is, well, Gresham, and drops about 5 catchable balls.  They weren't going to make the big game this year, but they could have beaten the Texans.

Year 3- The Chargers, at home.  Everyone assumed this would be the easy win.  And it might have been had Geno not been injured and the Chargers pounded the Bengals in their running game.  Dalton was not good, with two INTs and a fumble, but he did throw for 332 yards.  Gio's fumble at the opponents 5 yard line was a critical mistake.  Team loss.  All three phases sucked.  So did the coaching.  This is one that really, really hurt.

Year 4- At Indy-  The M*A*S*H unit game.  Rex Burkhead got his first shot as slot WR.  Brandon Tate was a starting WR.  AJ Green, Gresham, and others were all out for this game.  Dalton was solid, but the defense couldn't stop anything.   This one was probably the least painful of them all.

Year 5-  pitt at Home.  The worst officiated game of all time (I know, wah, dry your eyes).  Disgusting game on both sides of the field.  This game was over.  Done.  The playoff monkey was exercised...with our backup QB!  And you know how it ended.  

I will not hold this team accountable for the 2005 and 2009 losses, as there is almost no one from those teams left.  In fact, I think there is no one.

These five losses are understandable in three cases, one sucked big time (SD), and one was an absolute rectal (pitt...why would we expect anything else?).  So, I really only see one game where the Bengals should have been able to outplay and beat handily the opponent.  One game.  Gio fumbled.  Geno was injured.  Dalton fumbled.  It was a bad game.  I am not going to paint them in to a corner based on what is really one bad game.  

I'm not saying no one else should.  I get it, but to say their playoff record is why they won't go anywhere this year (PFT, etc) is no different than saying they have a team of thugs, and should all be in jail.   That is ancient history.  This year, they will prove it.  

Like I said..."if's and but's". Maybe you can excuse 1 or 2, but after that it just starts sounding like excuses. Something has to be systematically wrong for 7 straight playoff losses to happen. We're setting records for a reason. The wrong kind of records.

And with all the excuses, I start to notice that we only look at our own team...we don't consider what the opponent was dealing with...

Texans 1: Yeah we were supposed to be bad and were starting a rookie QB. Does anyone realize that the Texans were coming off a 6-10 season and were starting a TON of young players and rookies...including a terrible rookie QB with 5 starts?

Texans 2: We shouldn't have focused on Gresham in the game plan. That was a coaching error. The Texans were without Brian Cushing and were dealing with Schaub's sudden decline.

Chargers: Yeah we were missing Atkins. If we can't survive the loss of 1 player, we'll never win a playoff game. The Chargers were road dogs playing a team they'd already lost to at home.

Colts: Yeah we were hurting at receiver (although we did have Sanu), but the Colts were hurting badly at RB. They were down to their 3rd and 4th stringers. 

Steelers: Yeah we were without Andy. The Steelers were down an MVP caliber RB, his backup (DeAngelo Williams), were rotating RBs you'll have to google, were without Ben for 3 drives, without Pro-Bowler Maurkice Pouncey, on the road etc.

And this is only touching on the last 5 games. We all know that we've seen the same dead offense, defense that loses it's bite, and inability to put together 2 halves of football in all 7 games.

We've got to stop excusing it.

[*SHRacerX*]

(07-22-2017, 01:16 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Like I said..."if's and but's". Maybe you can excuse 1 or 2, but after that it just starts sounding like excuses. Something has to be systematically wrong for 7 straight playoff losses to happen. We're setting records for a reason. The wrong kind of records.

And with all the excuses, I start to notice that we only look at our own team...we don't consider what the opponent was dealing with...

Texans 1: Yeah we were supposed to be bad and were starting a rookie QB. Does anyone realize that the Texans were coming off a 6-10 season and were starting a TON of young players and rookies...including a terrible rookie QB with 5 starts?

Texans 2: We shouldn't have focused on Gresham in the game plan. That was a coaching error. The Texans were without Brian Cushing and were dealing with Schaub's sudden decline.

Chargers: Yeah we were missing Atkins. If we can't survive the loss of 1 player, we'll never win a playoff game. The Chargers were road dogs playing a team they'd already lost to at home.

Colts: Yeah we were hurting at receiver (although we did have Sanu), but the Colts were hurting badly at RB. They were down to their 3rd and 4th stringers. 

Steelers: Yeah we were without Andy. The Steelers were down an MVP caliber RB, his backup (DeAngelo Williams), were rotating RBs you'll have to google, were without Ben for 3 drives, without Pro-Bowler Maurkice Pouncey, on the road etc.

And this is only touching on the last 5 games. We all know that we've seen the same dead offense, defense that loses it's bite, and inability to put together 2 halves of football in all 7 games.

We've got to stop excusing it.

I get it, especially what you said about "it just sounds like you are making excuses".  That it is, 100%.  But had they held on to win that pittsburgh game, would that have changed everything?  The fact that we won one game?  Is it because we are tired of hearing the quarter century without a playoff win?  Why not just say half century without a Super Bowl win?  We would be with the Eagles, Falcons, Panthers, Browns, Cards, Vikings, Lions, Jags, Bills, Texans, and Chargers as teams that have never won a Super Bowl.  Slightly less than a third of the league.  Is that better?  

Your point that other teams had injuries, etc, is valid, but the Bengals were much more beat up than the Colts, and they were also missing other players against the Chargers, but it really boils down to excuses.  Great teams find a way and we simply have not had a great team top to bottom in the Marvin Era.  2005 and 2015 came pretty damn close.  I not only see this team as loaded with talent, but a coach in his final year of his deal.  I am hoping this creates a more aggressive strategy of throwing punches instead of always ducking and hoping the opponent makes a mistake.