Looks Like It Wasn't Just Austin

[*ochocincos*]

It's mainly about the LBs. Burfict is not the same as he used to be. Brown was hardly healthy, even in the seven games he played. Vigil was actually coming along this year before injuries derailed (most of) his season. Vincent Rey isn't the same as he used to be a few years back either. Jordan Evans hasn't had the light click on yet (it may never). The Bengals refuse to play Malik Jefferson on defense.

This LB group is old, beat up, and/or underperforming.

The offense has also had a lot of injuries (Green, Eifert, Kroft, Malone, Ross), which is a big contributor to their lack of success the past 1-2 months. Their late-round/UDFA receivers (Core, Erickson, Tate, Uzomah) just haven't developed enough to contribute in any meaningful way (yet).

And I'm sorry, but even if Marvin was an all-star DC 20 years ago, I'm not surprised he hasn't magically turned this defense around. He's rusty, the game has evolved a lot since he's been DC, and he's likely not changing up the defensive scheme from what Austin was teaching before the season started because it'd be too difficult to change something like that too much in the middle of the season.

All in all, this season is right up there with 2008, 2010, and 2016.