RIP Burrow Era

[THE PISTONS]

(09-09-2024, 09:09 AM)RunKijanaRun Wrote: I remember the tone here immediately after the SB ended. Melancholy; sure…but there was so much hope & optimism about the seasons to come. We’d arrived! Burrow/Chase/Tee were going to bring us back every other year, at a minimum! It’s just beginning! I tried to quell the irrational exuberance with my spartan, stoic reality checks, but no one listened. I knew that was the shot. And it was likely going to be the only shot for that group. I tried.

But right then, it was hard to blame them. But a team which only has the stars align correctly for it 3 times in its existence was never just going to recalibrate the aim slightly, tool up and take care of unfinished business. Team was still good and likely deserved to go back. I always say this franchise is cursed. Well, a guy almost dropping dead on our field is essentially what prevented a return trip. That kind of thing does not happen to other teams. That’s just Cincinnati Bengals Football.

Fast forward slightly to now, and the franchise is a mess. As usual. We didn’t win in the Burrow rookie contract window, and this team has never been capable of winning in anything but the most ideal circumstances. Higgins turned into Glass Joe. Chase has become public enemy #1 (sharing the spot with MB). Several draft picks and millions of dollars later, we still don’t have a good OL. Anarumo’s kinda the bum we suspected he was all along. And Joe Burrow might be broken at worst; settled in as a fragile top-10 QB at best. Zac Taylor is a disaster.

And here we sit, coming off an unbelievably bad loss to open 2024 and a few days away from being 0-2. Some say when God closes a door, He opens a window. God closed our windows & doors and put us in a porta-potti in a flooded basement. Who dey. We are cursed.

Well the SB was crazy too in the sense that the Rams changed strategies in the 2nd half and the Bengals couldn't counter it.

But, the worry was the Bengals had all this talent on rookie deals which is like a cheat code to win in the NFL. And a staff that had been inept but looked good. You knew Taylor would basically get a lifetime contract after that. And you knew that the young talent would get paid. And the big concern was whether the Bengals could then continue to draft and build a team with massively paid stars.

Look...IF they beat the Chiefs next week or play them tough, people will feel better I'm sure. It's another data point.