Perhaps the perfect tank job?

[shanebo]

Was thinking about this last night ... what if Mike Brown looked ahead, saw there would be a potential franchise QB at the top of the draft, and decided to purposely tank last season? (OK, so he thought it would be Tua, but all the best plans have a little luck, no?)

Think about it. Marvin would never go for it, so he's fired. Hire a rook with no coaching experience whatsoever. His job is to look incompetent and overwhelmed. Check. Spend draft picks on injured or developmental players who are at least a year away from helping out. Check. Then we need some injuries in key spots. First rounder/LT goes down, out for season. Star WR goes down, out for season.
Backup LT has mysterious concussion, out for season. Talented backup WR looks awesome first game? Shut him down. Then we need some strategic substitutions. Sit vets here and there, start rookies in their places. Cut some vets, don't bother to replace them. Other vets look mysteriously off. Gritty veteran QB won't play ball? Sit him. Let's see how the noodle-armed backup does against two division rivals. Limit the star RB's touches. What? It's getting a little too much? People are saying we're historically bad? OK, let's start implementing the real system, win a few games ...

Now it's 2020. We get our franchise QB. Suddenly everybody's healthy again. Zac can actually coach and evaluate talent. We have a great draft. Pick up some FAs. System looks solid. We win some games. Make playoffs, win playoff game, and then ....?

OK, probably not. In the words of the great Chris Farley, "But you could imagine what it'd be like ... good, great, grand, wonderful, NO YELLING ON THE BUS!"

[Au165]

I don't believe they entered the season expecting to be that bad. I think once the injuries and retirements on the offense piled up they understood the situation. I think they intentionally ran Finley out there in a Win/Win situation. If he ends up being good we have something to work around next year and if he is bad we lose games Andy would probably have won and we have a better shot at a top QB.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

There's an awful lot of delusion on this board recently.

[XenoMorph]

(03-04-2020, 11:20 AM)shanebo Wrote: Was thinking about this last night ... what if Mike Brown looked ahead, saw there would be a potential franchise QB at the top of the draft, and decided to purposely tank last season?  (OK, so he thought it would be Tua, but all the best plans have a little luck, no?)

Think about it.  Marvin would never go for it, so he's fired.  Hire a rook with no coaching experience whatsoever.  His job is to look incompetent and overwhelmed.  Check.  Spend draft picks on injured or developmental players who are at least a year away from helping out.  Check.  Then we need some injuries in key spots.  First rounder/LT goes down, out for season.  Star WR goes down, out for season.
Backup LT has mysterious concussion, out for season.  Talented backup WR looks awesome first game?  Shut him down.  Then we need some strategic substitutions.  Sit vets here and there, start rookies in their places.  Cut some vets, don't bother to replace them.  Other vets look mysteriously off.  Gritty veteran QB won't play ball?  Sit him.  Let's see how the noodle-armed backup does against two division rivals.  Limit the star RB's touches.  What?  It's getting a little too much?  People are saying we're historically bad?  OK, let's start implementing the real system, win a few games ...

Now it's 2020.  We get our franchise QB.  Suddenly everybody's healthy again.  Zac can actually coach and evaluate talent.  We have a great draft.  Pick up some FAs.  System looks solid.  We win some games.  Make playoffs, win playoff game, and then ....?

OK, probably not.  In the words of the great Chris Farley, "But you could imagine what it'd be like ... good, great, grand, wonderful, NO YELLING ON THE BUS!"

Wow....  Its good to have an active imagination but this might require a professional lol

[*ochocincos*]

(03-04-2020, 11:23 AM)Au165 Wrote: I don't believe they entered the season expecting to be that bad. I think once the injuries and retirements on the offense piled up they understood the situation. I think they intentionally ran Finley out there in a Win/Win situation. If he ends up being good we have something to work around next year and if he is bad we lose games Andy would probably have won and we have a better shot at a top QB.

I agree.

People need to remember that basically the same roster went 6-10 just the year before and started 4-1 before some critical injuries.
It's very likely that the Front Office felt the reason for the decline was the coaching staff, not the roster, and therefore didn't want to make too many changes to the roster.
They likely hoped/expected the team to actually improve from 2018 with a fully healthy roster and new coaching scheme/staff.

Unfortunately, they found out the roster wasn't as good as they thought it was (although I think many of us knew), and now they are (supposedly) willing to have more turnover with the roster.
With that said, it sounds like they want to replace/fill many positions, so they likely won't go for 1-2 elite upgrades but instead a handful of middle-tier guys.

[jj22]

That's a stretch.

[Gdale_Bengal]

How many shrooms did you eat when you were thinking about thus?

[*jason*]

(03-04-2020, 11:20 AM)shanebo Wrote: Was thinking about this last night ... what if Mike Brown looked ahead, saw there would be a potential franchise QB at the top of the draft, and decided to purposely tank last season? (OK, so he thought it would be Tua, but all the best plans have a little luck, no?)

Think about it. Marvin would never go for it, so he's fired. Hire a rook with no coaching experience whatsoever. His job is to look incompetent and overwhelmed. Check. Spend draft picks on injured or developmental players who are at least a year away from helping out. Check. Then we need some injuries in key spots. First rounder/LT goes down, out for season. Star WR goes down, out for season.
Backup LT has mysterious concussion, out for season. Talented backup WR looks awesome first game? Shut him down. Then we need some strategic substitutions. Sit vets here and there, start rookies in their places. Cut some vets, don't bother to replace them. Other vets look mysteriously off. Gritty veteran QB won't play ball? Sit him. Let's see how the noodle-armed backup does against two division rivals. Limit the star RB's touches. What? It's getting a little too much? People are saying we're historically bad? OK, let's start implementing the real system, win a few games ...

Now it's 2020. We get our franchise QB. Suddenly everybody's healthy again. Zac can actually coach and evaluate talent. We have a great draft. Pick up some FAs. System looks solid. We win some games. Make playoffs, win playoff game, and then ....?

OK, probably not. In the words of the great Chris Farley, "But you could imagine what it'd be like ... good, great, grand, wonderful, NO YELLING ON THE BUS!"

Good morning Mr Brown.

[BleedNOrange]

No, just no. Mike Brown doesn't go from an incompetent owner for ~30 years to a "mastermind" in 1 year. You're giving him way too much credit.

The lifespan of a NFL player is so short, that none would intentional tank an entire year. They all want to get paid and have a short time to prove they are worth it.

We were a bad team top to bottom in 2019. Nothing more.

[Destro]

(03-04-2020, 11:20 AM)shanebo Wrote: ... what if Mike Brown looked ahead...

And this is where you lost me.

[Schmitbuck]

I think it's more of a blind squirrel/ nut sort of thing.

[*Nately120*]

You forgot "hire a HC and coaching staff that are in way over their heads and have no ability to put an NFL-caliber gameplan together." Then again, Mike Brown forgot to fire said coaching staff after the taking mission was accomplished. Hmm...

[Murdock2420]

(03-04-2020, 11:20 AM)shanebo Wrote: Was thinking about this last night ... what if Mike Brown looked ahead, saw there would be a potential franchise QB at the top of the draft, and decided to purposely tank last season?  (OK, so he thought it would be Tua, but all the best plans have a little luck, no?)

Think about it.  Marvin would never go for it, so he's fired.  Hire a rook with no coaching experience whatsoever.  His job is to look incompetent and overwhelmed.  Check.  Spend draft picks on injured or developmental players who are at least a year away from helping out.  Check.  Then we need some injuries in key spots.  First rounder/LT goes down, out for season.  Star WR goes down, out for season.
Backup LT has mysterious concussion, out for season.  Talented backup WR looks awesome first game?  Shut him down.  Then we need some strategic substitutions.  Sit vets here and there, start rookies in their places.  Cut some vets, don't bother to replace them.  Other vets look mysteriously off.  Gritty veteran QB won't play ball?  Sit him.  Let's see how the noodle-armed backup does against two division rivals.  Limit the star RB's touches.  What?  It's getting a little too much?  People are saying we're historically bad?  OK, let's start implementing the real system, win a few games ...

Now it's 2020.  We get our franchise QB.  Suddenly everybody's healthy again.  Zac can actually coach and evaluate talent.  We have a great draft.  Pick up some FAs.  System looks solid.  We win some games.  Make playoffs, win playoff game, and then ....?

OK, probably not.  In the words of the great Chris Farley, "But you could imagine what it'd be like ... good, great, grand, wonderful, NO YELLING ON THE BUS!"

All he looks forward to his next round of dumpster diving for free agents and fleecing the city on the stadium deal.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

So that was the thought behind lining Dalton up in the Shotgun on 4th and 1....

Seriously though, even with that active imagination things can be turned around with the way things fell now.

I know it was the first time I have ever wanted us to tank for a player, never have before.

[BengalChris]

(03-04-2020, 11:20 AM)shanebo Wrote: Was thinking about this last night ... what if Mike Brown looked ahead, saw there would be a potential franchise QB at the top of the draft, and decided to purposely tank last season?  (OK, so he thought it would be Tua, but all the best plans have a little luck, no?)

Think about it.  Marvin would never go for it, so he's fired.  Hire a rook with no coaching experience whatsoever.  His job is to look incompetent and overwhelmed.  Check.  Spend draft picks on injured or developmental players who are at least a year away from helping out.  Check.  Then we need some injuries in key spots.  First rounder/LT goes down, out for season.  Star WR goes down, out for season.
Backup LT has mysterious concussion, out for season.  Talented backup WR looks awesome first game?  Shut him down.  Then we need some strategic substitutions.  Sit vets here and there, start rookies in their places.  Cut some vets, don't bother to replace them.  Other vets look mysteriously off.  Gritty veteran QB won't play ball?  Sit him.  Let's see how the noodle-armed backup does against two division rivals.  Limit the star RB's touches.  What?  It's getting a little too much?  People are saying we're historically bad?  OK, let's start implementing the real system, win a few games ...

Now it's 2020.  We get our franchise QB.  Suddenly everybody's healthy again.  Zac can actually coach and evaluate talent.  We have a great draft.  Pick up some FAs.  System looks solid.  We win some games.  Make playoffs, win playoff game, and then ....?

OK, probably not.  In the words of the great Chris Farley, "But you could imagine what it'd be like ... good, great, grand, wonderful, NO YELLING ON THE BUS!"

Mike Brown went into last season expecting to come out with a winning record. New Dey and all. He thought he got a future great HC.

But it all failed. Taylor failed, badly. He coached badly, game planned badly, play called badly and evaluated talent badly. I guess he gives good speeches to the team, but that doesn't win games. Maybe he gave Mike Brown a good speech at his interview.

Two freakin' wins is an embarrassment.

Last season just confirmed for me that Mike Brown hasn't really changed and Model Model is still his self written bible.

Waiting for him and boy Taylor to prove me wrong. Still waiting ... I expect to be waiting awhile even though I'd love nothing more than to be wrong and for this front office to get it's shitt together after 29 years.

 

[SunsetBengal]

(03-04-2020, 11:20 AM)shanebo Wrote: Was thinking about this last night ... what if Mike Brown looked ahead, saw there would be a potential franchise QB at the top of the draft, and decided to purposely tank last season?  (OK, so he thought it would be Tua, but all the best plans have a little luck, no?)

Think about it.  Marvin would never go for it, so he's fired.  Hire a rook with no coaching experience whatsoever.  His job is to look incompetent and overwhelmed.  Check.  Spend draft picks on injured or developmental players who are at least a year away from helping out.  Check.  Then we need some injuries in key spots.  First rounder/LT goes down, out for season.  Star WR goes down, out for season.
Backup LT has mysterious concussion, out for season.  Talented backup WR looks awesome first game?  Shut him down.  Then we need some strategic substitutions.  Sit vets here and there, start rookies in their places.  Cut some vets, don't bother to replace them.  Other vets look mysteriously off.  Gritty veteran QB won't play ball?  Sit him.  Let's see how the noodle-armed backup does against two division rivals.  Limit the star RB's touches.  What?  It's getting a little too much?  People are saying we're historically bad?  OK, let's start implementing the real system, win a few games ...

Now it's 2020.  We get our franchise QB.  Suddenly everybody's healthy again.  Zac can actually coach and evaluate talent.  We have a great draft.  Pick up some FAs.  System looks solid.  We win some games.  Make playoffs, win playoff game, and then ....?

OK, probably not.  In the words of the great Chris Farley, "But you could imagine what it'd be like ... good, great, grand, wonderful, NO YELLING ON THE BUS!"

Weather real or imagined, I enjoyed your creative interpretation of reality.  

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(03-04-2020, 10:57 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Weather real or imagined, I enjoyed your creative interpretation of reality.  

Me too (don't want to be the spelling police but it is whether not that weather we all experience outside). 

Sorry, won the spelling bee when I was in the 4th grade. Won something anyways lmao!

[*jason*]

(03-04-2020, 11:00 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Me too (don't want to be the spelling police but it is whether not that weather we all experience outside). 

Sorry, won the spelling bee when I was in the 4th grade. Won something anyways lmao!

Technically he did spell weather right... You're more of a Grammer Nazi than a spelling police officer.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(03-04-2020, 11:12 PM)jason Wrote: Technically he did spell weather right... You're more of a Grammer Nazi than a spelling police officer.

Correct.

[Shake n Blake]

I think we all wanted to wonder if last season was a tank job, but many refuse to entertain the thought thanks to our past incompetence...which is understandable. That said, I wouldn't doubt if they knew 2019 would be a "throw away" type of year. The roster needed a lot of re-tooling. The defense made a rather drastic change in scheme. AJ Green was hurt.

After our rough start, I wouldn't doubt if Taylor and co made some decisions that they wouldn't have made normally. Such as starting Finley for 3 games, or maybe keeping AJ off the field. Hard telling though. Kinda funny that we started playing better as it became clear we'd secure the top pick.

Fwiw, no way do I believe Mike planned this far in advance.