11-04-2017, 03:04 PM
(11-04-2017, 02:14 PM)SHRacerX Wrote: Good point, Holic. I will try to offer a bit of perspective around the Dalton-Green Era.
Look at the Falcons and Colts. Both have franchise QBs, both are highly thought of organizations, and both have won playoff games in that era. The Colts won one, I think, and the Falcons made their run last year, blowing an astronomical fourth quarter lead.
Those teams were set to make a run. So (were) the Bengals. Our QB got injured. Look what happened to the Colts without Luck and look what will surely happen to Green Bay and the Texans without their QBs.
The Bengals were in position to make a run in every year but two of the seven years they have had Dalton and Green.
Here's why - at least in my opinion - it's not comparable: The Falcons beat the Packers and Seahawks in the playoffs, and lost to the Pats/Belichick in the Super Bowl. While certainly a devastating ending, they still achieved a lot...taking their 'position to make a run' and translating into an actual run.
The Colts won 3 playoff games between 2012 and 2014, including beating the Bengals, and made it to the AFC title game where they lost to the Pats. Again, a team that translated being in 'position to make a run' into actually making some noise and winning some games in the postseason.
The Bengals have had 7 opportunities to win a single playoff game, and have failed on every occasion, including 5 consecutive...a feat so improbable that it had never been done before in the entire history of the NFL. At some point, if you've accomplished absolutely nothing with repeated opportunities to do so...it has to be considered a failure.
Quote:However, my point is that the organization has had a very good record of drafting and developing talent in the Dalton/Green era and they haven't overpaid a FA that left them hamstrung and incapable of keeping their core talent. There are about 5 teams in the NFL that have managed to accomplish that seemingly simple task over the last 7 years, and the Bengals are one of them. To me, that makes them top tier.
Again, and this is just my opinion...I can't consider a franchise to be top tier when they have haven't won a playoff game in 26 years and is 0-7 over the last 13 years...not to mention the prime time record, being dominated by the Steelers and so on.
Not trying to be negative or not give them any credit, they have enjoyed a nice run of regular season success before 2016, but if it never leads to the desired result - winning at least one playoff game - then, at some point, what you're doing just isn't working effectively.
