The Mike Brown Era, Will it Ever End?

[*psychdoctor*]

Sled’s thread regarding Taylor and Tobin inspired me to write this, so blame Sled.  Lol.  This is long winded and to many, nothing new.  

Many fans are too young to remember the Bengals of 1990’s and those fans that do remember, want to forget.  I felt the need to summarize some facts for my own sanity and maybe this summary will help some understand the cycle of pain as a Bengal fan.  

I could teach a college course for a semester on 10 ways on how to fail as a sport organization “without really trying” and use Mike Brown as case and point.  If the last 30 years or so of the Bengals archives were placed in a time capsule, Sport Historians could use it to explore correlates to the slow erosion of a loyal fanbase, increases to alcohol & drug use, angry outbursts, and clinical depression within a vibrant community.  

Where to begin? During the Christmas season of 1991, Sam Wyche “resigned” after a meeting with Mike Brown.  Problem is, depending on whom you ask, Sam did not resign, he was fired.  But Sam would be owed nearly 1 million dollars if he were fired, so the Front Office simply stated that Sam resigned (Sam was owed nothing).  This was a big deal because Sam’s firing ushered in the Dave Shula era that caused many fans alive and even dead to have gnashing of teeth.  It was the beginning of the NFL dark ages for Bengal fans; the “lost decade.”  12 years may not sound long but living in the moral equivalent of Dante’s Inferno was like, well, living in hell.  The hiring of Shula caused a fragmented if not fractured locker room with former Bengal greats like Boomer Esiason who was traded to the Jets.  Sound familiar?  

Bengals have one of the smallest scouting departments in the league and have used a “coaching-centric” philosophy to evaluate NFL talent.  The lack of scouting has caused problems in evaluating talent, especially later talent in the draft.  Problems are compounded when the coaching staff is inept in evaluating NFL talent.  During the 1990’s headscratchers during the NFL draft were the norm, not the exception.  

Driving the fanbase crazy is one thing, but driving others in the Front Office, including your own flesh and blood was another.  There were many low points in the 1990s but by some accounts, the lowest of lows came in 1999 when the Saints offered Mike Brown their entire draft (12th overall, 3rd round, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 1st & 3rd in 2000 for the 4th overall pick).  Instead, Mike Brown selected Akili Smith.  True story.  

Bengal lore has it that after the 1999 draft, Katie Blackburn and others wanted Mike Brown to hire a Director of Football Operations (Player Personnel) as Brown’s draft were uninspiring to say the least.  And in 1999, the son of Bill Tobin and nephew of Vince Tobin, Duke was hired to fill this role.   However, Tobin did not fill this role as de facto GM until 2002.  

Then came Marvin Lewis era and Bengals rejoined the NFL with competitive teams.   But even Lewis could not take the Bengals to the promise land under the heavy-handed influence of Mike Brown who insisted to use the team as a half-way house for troubled but talented players.  Injuries to Palmer during the playoffs to the groaning of many fans still burns in the psyche of many.  The Burrow injury brought back flashbacks of someone or something purposely crushing the cusp of hope.  Lewis stated after his hiring something to the effect that places, or teams are not cursed; they are just an organization of people.  Some fans would disagree.  After the Burrow injury, the curse is back or maybe it never really left.  

Tobin has had some good drafts, given, the Bengals still have the smallest scouting department and continue to use the “coaching-centric” philosophy to evaluate talent.  Bengals have attempted to improve the OL but missed with several of their players.  The Front Office, either Brown, Tobin, or others did not resign big Whit, big Z and instead drafted Ced, Fisher, and others that were subpar. 
   
The Taylor era is eerily similar to the Shula era in some ways in terms of lack of coaching experience and horrific win-lost record.  In fact, Taylor’s record is projected to be worse.  Worse than Shula. But Taylor has had some talent to work with and was given carte blanche to bring in coordinators/assistants like Turner and Sweet Lou.  I blame in part Taylor for the injury to Burrow because Taylor publicly stated that the problems of the OL were “overblown” and Taylor “blamed” the rookie QB for taking too many sacks and hits.  Tobin has had success with Lewis, so I think Taylor, Lou, Turner need to go.  Tobin has accomplished enough to hang around for another coaching change.    

Mike Brown is 85 years of age.  Next August, he will be 86.  I don’t know if anything changes when Brown leaves the team. But it is the only possibility at this point giving me hope as a Bengal fan.  

If you want to add to this, please do so.