I'm happy we lost. Come tell me I'm a bad fan.

[Whatever]

(12-09-2018, 10:22 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: This loss was, in my opinion, the absolute best case scenario for this team in this position with this record and this number of injuries.

Let's all take a moment to admit that there was no way, even if we somehow miraculously made the playoffs due to the failures of all the teams around us (which, by the way is made all the more unlikely because the Dolphins beat the #1 team in their way to securing the final playoff spot).

So winning this game would have done 2 things:
1. Made Mike Brown more confident in Marvin Lewis' ability as a coach, both defensive and head.
2. Ensured that we get a worse draft selection in the 2019 draft; a draft that could potentially be filled with talented but risky QB options (such as Herbert, Haskins, Jones, Grier, Lock and Murray, if he chooses Football over baseball). All these QBs have talent, but each has their own set of question marks that make them, arguably, candidates for falling ever so slightly in the draft. See: Mahomes.
If we're in the top 10 or early teens, we may have a shot at one of these players.

In the Chargers game, our team played well, showed their talent (especially on the defensive side against a very talented offense), arguably showed a large portion of the problem is play calling, time management and coaching and then lost just in time to preserve the draft position.

If we can replicate this over the final weeks of the season, we can finally get rid of Marvin (because there won't be one of those stupid "resurgences" like we had last year), find a new "hot" coach who sees the talent on our roster and is excited to build around it (perhaps Kansas City's Offensive Coordinator, Eric Bieniemy) all while maintaining a good draft position to potentially take a franchise QB (depending on how many end up declaring and are determined to be worth a first round pick) and the new era of Bengals football can begin.

I know the sentiment around here is often "We need to win at all costs because we're fans of this team. Rooting for your team to lose is very un-fan-like."

But I think there's a greater purpose here. Mike Brown will doom this team if they let him. We seriously need to remove Marvin, Hue and all their cohorts and start fresh. We have been stewing in this bland, tepid pool of Merv for anywhere between 3 and 8 years, depending on who you ask.

Set this team free. And maintain the chance of drafting a truly game changing QB while you're at it. Lose out and start over in 2019. The alternative is another year (or more) of Marvin or, worse...Hue Jackson...

Sadly, we've seen late season runs save Marvin before, and I think the majority of us will say that there's no hope for a playoff run with Marvin.  This is a crappy QB class, so I would have to pass on that part.