It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint

[CJD]

I think the reason people are hesitant to give Zac Taylor and his staff more time to get their playbooks/philosophies implemented is because almost every single one was either a stretch hire or a retread hire in the first place.

Jim Turner is the Oline coach. Has never been considered a prodigy. Has had scandals surrounding him in multiple places he's worked. Suspected of being a nepotism hire. All around an unusual hire.

Lou Anarumo is a defensive coordinator who has never held that position before in a non interim basis. Has never been considered a prodigy. Was the DB coach of a bad team as his crowning achievement.

Zac Taylor is the head coach. Has never even been an offensive coordinator before in a non interim basis. In the few places he has led the offense, it has not been impressive (UC and Miami). He has been considered a prodigy in some cases, but no team was really willing to put their money where their mouth was (no team ever hired him as an offensive coordinator or play caller).

So when things went as badly as they did yesterday, the immediate suspicion is "These guys are in way over their heads." In cases like that, more time doesn't necessarily make things better. In fact, in some cases, it may even make things worse.

So now the Bengals fans, who were forced to endure nearly 2 decades of Marvin Lewis, are now being asked to give some patience to coaches who, at the time, were questionable hires at best. If you give them time to work through the kinks, who knows if we'll end up better or far worse on the other end? What if they draft players who aren't worth the slots (as many suspect Sample of being, for example) and end up being back ups when you needed them to be stars/starters? How many bad drafts can we withstand?

Now, let me be clear. I don't think it's time to jump ship nor do I think it's time to consider replacing these coaches. I'm just saying let's not fall into the Marvin Lewis trap of "oh, if you give him enough time with enough freedom, he'll work it out." We need to be pragmatic in the way we approach this New Dey. We cannot have a Marvin Lewis 2.0. If this coaching staff can't get it done in 2 to 3 years, you need to fire them and get some actual coaches. We cannot rest on our laurels (what little we have left) for another 2 decades hoping the coaches suddenly become good at coaching.