Our Timeline.

[GreenCornBengal]

NFL.com posted an abnormally cool article about our team. I think it really captures what we have all gone through and why we act the way we do.

The line "Remember, Marvin Lewis raised the Titanic. And where they're at right now is a sweet spot, even if no one's satisfied yet." really stood out to me.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000500842/article/pain-rankings-no-6-the-cincinnati-bengals

Enjoy... or have nostalgic crying... probably both.
         

[EatonFan]

That was a good article. Thanks for the find.

[*Awful Llama*]

Nice catalogue of the woes this franchise has suffered. He's right that whenever the team seem ready to take a step toward greatness we stumbled, either by design or just plain bad luck. It's hard to think about what could have been, but it's a nice, quick history lesson for younger Bengal fans or fans of other teams that have long-since forgotten the trials of this team.

[Shake n Blake]

I remember the 90's as if it happened yesterday.

It still doesn't excuse the 0-6 playoff record, and I'm not sure why folks act as if the FO that hired Marvin Lewis is destined to hire a POS as the next HC. Hopefully Marv goes on a run in the playoffs this year and we no longer have to bring up events from 20 years ago to feel better about the HC.

And even if they lose again and Marv falls to 0-7, the same folks will be defending him next year. As if we should be happy with never winning in the playoffs just because the 90's happened.

[yellowxdiscipline]

The Greg Cook piece is just heartbreaking.

[Johnny Cupcakes]

I just read this and came here to make sure it wasn't posted before I did it myself.

Reading that article makes you realize just how many things have to go right for a team to become a big deal, and just how many things can go wrong and hold them back from becoming a really big deal.

If just a few things would have went their way instead of the other way, the Bengals could have a much more storied franchise. Hell, if Brown would have hired Walsh as the head coach, the Bengals could have been the best team of the 80s.

If Cook or Palmer wouldn't have gotten hurt, if Billups wouldn't have dropped that INT, if the 90s drafting would have been a bit less horrible....the Bengals are definitely one of the bigger "what could have been" teams.

Good read.

[*Nately120*]

(07-15-2015, 11:51 PM)Johnny Cupcakes Wrote: If Cook or Palmer wouldn't have gotten hurt, if Billups wouldn't have dropped that INT, if the 90s drafting would have been a bit less horrible....the Bengals are definitely one of the bigger "what could have been" teams.

Good read.

The Cook, Palmer, and Billups examples make sense but the 90s drafting shouldn't be lumped in with the "what ifs" because in my mind the 90s drafting was every bit as terrible as you can expect from a guy with no business calling the shots who refuses to get help.  Maybe I'm using hindsight.  Maybe when Paul Brown died and Mike Brown decided he was an owner and GM rolled into one people were like "Yeah, I bet he is!"

[PlayerFormerlyKnownAsMousecop]

(07-14-2015, 11:27 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: I remember the 90's as if it happened yesterday.

It still doesn't excuse the 0-6 playoff record, and I'm not sure why folks act as if the FO that hired Marvin Lewis is destined to hire a POS as the next HC. Hopefully Marv goes on a run in the playoffs this year and we no longer have to bring up events from 20 years ago to feel better about the HC.

And even if they lose again and Marv falls to 0-7, the same folks will be defending him next year. As if we should be happy with never winning in the playoffs just because the 90's happened.

You have to admit, losing 7 playoff games in a row is approaching curse territory. If you're good enough to get to the playoffs 7 times but you can't seem to win once you're there, it seems more like a franchise problem.

Although (before I get attacked), the QB and head coach do need to shoulder SOME of the blame, but certainly not all of it. That goes to the organization as a whole.

[PlayerFormerlyKnownAsMousecop]

(07-16-2015, 12:15 PM)PlayerFormerlyKnownAsMousecop Wrote: You have to admit, losing 7 playoff games in a row is approaching curse territory. If you're good enough to get to the playoffs 7 times but you can't seem to win once you're there, it seems more like a franchise problem to me.

Although (before I get attacked) the QB and head coach do need to shoulder SOME of the blame, they certainly should not take all of it. That goes to the organization as a whole. Especially when the franchise/team is built the way it is.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(07-14-2015, 10:15 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: NFL.com posted an abnormally cool article about our team. I think it really captures what we have all gone through and why we act the way we do.

The line "Remember, Marvin Lewis raised the Titanic. And where they're at right now is a sweet spot, even if no one's satisfied yet." really stood out to me.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000500842/article/pain-rankings-no-6-the-cincinnati-bengals

Enjoy... or have nostalgic crying... probably both.
         

That pretty much epitomizes being a Bengal's fan no question.

Makes yah cry a bit but hey, maybe this is the year...

We sure are due and we have the players to do it. It is the coach that makes me wonder.

He has proven time and time again that he cannot get his players ready for the big games.

That is the main reason why i hated the Marv extension even if it was for only a year, it took the urgency out of
this season IMHO. But hey, the extenstion might mean that Marv only wants to coach for one more year anyway
and we already have our future HC in house with either Vance Joseph or Hue. We will see, been quite a ride.

[Shake n Blake]

(07-16-2015, 12:15 PM)PlayerFormerlyKnownAsMousecop Wrote: You have to admit, losing 7 playoff games in a row is approaching curse territory. If you're good enough to get to the playoffs 7 times but you can't seem to win once you're there, it seems more like a franchise problem.

Although (before I get attacked), the QB and head coach do need to shoulder SOME of the blame, but certainly not all of it. That goes to the organization as a whole.

I'm not going to attack you for saying that. The 0-6 record is baffling. I tend to mostly blame the FO and HC (because the players change, yet the results stay the same), but I have to admit that it's just crazy how they haven't been able to luck into a single win. Heck, it hasn't even been close (with the exception of the 2nd Texans game - which still didn't feel close).

If they fall to 0-7 under Marv, what else can be said? The playoff record will look even more ridiculous, but to me it already seems clear that there's a problem up top. Some like to throw the QB in with it, but the whole team shrinks every time. To me, that's a coaching/preparation problem. 

This isn't aimed at you, but to me it just doesn't seem rational to say that Dalton has sunk the entire team in each of the last 4 games (no matter how many turnovers he has), and that the fact that the team fell apart in identical fashion in the '05 and '09 games was just coincidence. Imo, a more rational explanation would be that the team has been poorly prepared and perhaps a bit too predictable, and that's why we've never had a QB with a passer rating higher than 67 (despite plenty of regular season success between Kitna, Palmer and Dalton) and our defense has been poor in every category (despite having elite defenses pretty much every year).

[Bengal Dude]

(07-16-2015, 12:02 PM)Nately120 Wrote: The Cook, Palmer, and Billups examples make sense but the 90s drafting shouldn't be lumped in with the "what ifs" because in my mind the 90s drafting was every bit as terrible as you can expect from a guy with no business calling the shots who refuses to get help.  Maybe I'm using hindsight.  Maybe when Paul Brown died and Mike Brown decided he was an owner and GM rolled into one people were like "Yeah, I bet he is!"

One thing that always sticks out to me is something I read in Paul Brown's biography.

Mike Brown went to visit his dad shorty before he died and wanted to talk to him about David Klingler. Paul told him to not pick Klingler because there was something about him that Paul didn't like. Obviously we know what happened there.

[*Nately120*]

(07-16-2015, 04:42 PM)Bengal Dude Wrote: One thing that always sticks out to me is something I read in Paul Brown's biography.

Mike Brown went to visit his dad shorty before he died and wanted to talk to him about David Klingler. Paul told him to not pick Klingler because there was something about him that Paul didn't like. Obviously we know what happened there.

Were there any good QBs in the 1992 draft?  I feel like we could have taken a QB in the 7th round and done as well. I guess it's not Klingler so much as taking a QB 6th overall when they all seemed so underwhelming.

[Bengal Dude]

(07-16-2015, 04:49 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Were there any good QBs in the 1992 draft?  I feel like we could have taken a QB in the 7th round and done as well.  I guess it's not Klingler so much as taking a QB 6th overall when they all seemed so underwhelming.

Our best 90s QB was taken in the 6th round that year.

Most of the coaches wanted Troy Vincent, who went with the next pick, but Mike Brown was enamored with Klingler.

[*Nately120*]

(07-16-2015, 04:59 PM)Bengal Dude Wrote: Our best 90s QB was taken in the 6th round that year.

Most of the coaches wanted Troy Vincent, who went with the next pick, but Mike Brown was enamored with Klingler.

No, our best QB of the 90s was taken in the 2nd round in 1984. 

[Shake n Blake]

(07-16-2015, 05:03 PM)Nately120 Wrote: No, our best QB of the 90s was taken in the 2nd round in 1984. 

While that was a great 5 games and I was irritated that Mike Brown encouraged Boomer to take the MNF gig, all Blake did in the 90's was pass for 15,134 yards and 93 TD's in 66 starts while making a Pro Bowl. I think that qualifies him as the best QB of the 90's. Not that he had much competition.

[*Nately120*]

(07-16-2015, 11:10 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: While that was a great 5 games and I was irritated that Mike Brown encouraged Boomer to take the MNF gig, all Blake did in the 90's was pass for 15,134 yards and 93 TD's in 66 starts while making a Pro Bowl. I think that qualifies him as the best QB of the 90's. Not that he had much competition.

Nuh uh!

[BengalFanInNJ]

And now I am angry again.

[Shake n Blake]

(07-17-2015, 11:31 AM)Nately120 Wrote: Nuh uh!

[Captain Happy Pants]

Good read. I'm constantly reminded to be thankful for making the playoffs the past 5-6 years. I am, and things could be much worse. But I refuse to accept that we shouldn't change anything if we don't win a playoff game.

I was listening to SIRIUS nfl radio last week and they were talking about teams that are "stuck". Meaning we do well enough each year to be contenders but don't get the high draft picks. Meanwhile, your best players get older and you're missing that one franchise player or coach

If I had a crystal ball and knew if we were to bomb one year (i.e. Colts) to get a player like Andrew Luck, I'd take it. But getting that franchise player is a crap shoot. RG3 was supposed to be the second coming of Christ but he hasn't panned out. But I don't think a franchise player is what we're missing. I think our playoff woes are a coaching problem. Marvin gets out coached each game, with no adjustments in the second half