03-12-2022, 02:17 PM
One of the fascinating things about the way our defense played in the postseason is that we saw the exact same thing in 1989. A lot of younger fans have probably watched a tape of the '89 Super Bowl and were highly impressed with the way our defense, despite losing its best player (Krumrie) early in the game, held that high-powered Forty-Niner offense to just 6 points going into the 4th quarter. It was just a continuance of post season defensive brilliance. In the playoffs the Bengal defense had held Seattle and Buffalo to only 237.5 yds and 11.5 points per game. But during that regular season that same defense had ranked 16th (out of only 28 teams) in points allowed and 15th in yards.
That '88 defense had some talented players. Krumrie was not just Pro Bowl, he was All Pro at NT. SS David Fulcher was a 3 time Pro Bowl selection and All-Pro in '89. CB Eric Thomas had a career high 7 ints and also went to the Pro Bowl in '88. Reggie Williams was a very good player who never got and Pro Bowl recognition, but he started 196 NFL games and did everything well. DE Jim Skow had a "one hit wonder" season in '88 with 9.5 sacks (more than double his next best season of 4.5). But for the most part it was just a bunch of decent players. Their biggest asset may have been DC Dick LeBeau. They were also incredibly healthy with no games missed by any of their starters.
The next year they upgraded the defense at two positions. The #5 pick from the '88 draft, CB Ricky Dixon, replaced Solomon Wilcots. Wilcots started all 16 games for the Bengals in '88, but only had 11 more starts in the other 5 years of his career. The #17 pick of the '87 draft, DE Jason Buck, replaced Skip McClendon. Buck was not a great player, but his 6 sacks in '89, were almost as many as McClendon had in his entire 7 year career (8).
The '89 defense started out playing great. Through the first 5 games of the season they were #2 in points allowed and #5 in yards. At 4-1 the Bengals had the best record in the AFC.. But over the last 11 games the defense fell to 15th in points allowed and 18th in yards. The team finished 4-7 and missed the playoffs. The defense was again very health with DE Jim Skow being the only starter to miss a game and it was only the last 5 of the season.
So I have rambled on here a bit to make this point. We just saw our defense play very well in the playoffs. There is a cognitive function called "recency bias". It is a memory bias that gives greater importance to what we have experienced most recently.
When making decisions on what we should do this offseason be careful not to put too much importance on what you saw in just the last few games.
That '88 defense had some talented players. Krumrie was not just Pro Bowl, he was All Pro at NT. SS David Fulcher was a 3 time Pro Bowl selection and All-Pro in '89. CB Eric Thomas had a career high 7 ints and also went to the Pro Bowl in '88. Reggie Williams was a very good player who never got and Pro Bowl recognition, but he started 196 NFL games and did everything well. DE Jim Skow had a "one hit wonder" season in '88 with 9.5 sacks (more than double his next best season of 4.5). But for the most part it was just a bunch of decent players. Their biggest asset may have been DC Dick LeBeau. They were also incredibly healthy with no games missed by any of their starters.
The next year they upgraded the defense at two positions. The #5 pick from the '88 draft, CB Ricky Dixon, replaced Solomon Wilcots. Wilcots started all 16 games for the Bengals in '88, but only had 11 more starts in the other 5 years of his career. The #17 pick of the '87 draft, DE Jason Buck, replaced Skip McClendon. Buck was not a great player, but his 6 sacks in '89, were almost as many as McClendon had in his entire 7 year career (8).
The '89 defense started out playing great. Through the first 5 games of the season they were #2 in points allowed and #5 in yards. At 4-1 the Bengals had the best record in the AFC.. But over the last 11 games the defense fell to 15th in points allowed and 18th in yards. The team finished 4-7 and missed the playoffs. The defense was again very health with DE Jim Skow being the only starter to miss a game and it was only the last 5 of the season.
So I have rambled on here a bit to make this point. We just saw our defense play very well in the playoffs. There is a cognitive function called "recency bias". It is a memory bias that gives greater importance to what we have experienced most recently.
When making decisions on what we should do this offseason be careful not to put too much importance on what you saw in just the last few games.
