Make Your 2021 Early Season Predictions

[GodFather]

(05-24-2021, 03:15 AM)sandwedge Wrote: They have had a number of winning seasons since the stadium was built....

Your bar is set low if you call a team who hasn't won a single playoff game since 1991 winning seasons.

[Wes Mantooth]

(05-24-2021, 03:09 AM)sandwedge Wrote: You have no financial investment in the Bengals, they don't owe you nothing. 

So we're in agreement? 

[*Nately120*]

(05-23-2021, 11:57 AM)bfine32 Wrote: True, It just seems many look for the dark cloud in front of the silver lining in every situation. 

Not saying one is "better" than the other; I just cannot understand the mentality. 

I get that, and really the only form of optimism that bugs me is when people counter a logical argument that ZT or John Ross might not be good with the optimistic take that he is going to be awesome and make you look like a big ol' dummy for doubting him...of course if/when that person is wrong you can't give him grief because "HEY, he was just being an optimist and supporting the team...why don't you just root for the Steelers if you hate the Bengals so much!?"

Another odd, yet understandable form of optimism is the "replacement put-down" optimism.  Burrow is awesome, and even after 2 wins and an injury-plagued season he's leaps and bounds better than any QB we have had in the past 40 years.  Is that optimistic?  Trashing 40 years of Bengals football to praise a guy who could be praised for other reasons?  Is a Bengals fan saying that Bengals fans have had nearly 40 years of crappy/laid-back/wimpy/incompetent QB play?  That doesn't seem very optimistic to me.

It goes on...fandom is such a drug and I'm here for another hit.  So it goes.

[SadFaceBengal15]

(05-24-2021, 08:52 AM)GodFather Wrote: Your bar is set low if you call a team who hasn't won a single playoff game since 1991 winning seasons.

This 100%^^^^^^

I swear mindsets like this in bengal town and even in the front office are why we are still working towards our first playoff win since 1991. In no way shape or forms has anything been good enough

[XenoMorph]

(05-24-2021, 08:52 AM)GodFather Wrote: Your bar is set low if you call a team who hasn't won a single playoff game since 1991 winning seasons.

Well simple a winning season is win you win more games than lose right?  we had 5 in arow not long ago if your memory is failing..

They ultimately were not Successful at the Grand Goal of winning a superbowl and we are in the same boat as 31 other teams each year on that.

[*Nately120*]

(05-24-2021, 11:48 AM)XenoMorph Wrote: Well simple a winning season is win you win more games than lose right?  we had 5 in arow not long ago if your memory is failing..

They ultimately were not Successful at the Grand Goal of winning a superbowl and we are in the same boat as 31 other teams each year on that.

I'm pretty sure we can turn things around this year, but how many teams have 5 losing seasons in a row?  I feel like that is some bottom of the barrel franchise stuff right there.  Add in that during our 5 year winning streak we were debating on whether it'd be better to be a fan of the Bengals who win 9+ games "every year" but lose in the playoffs or the Buccaneers who will stink for a decade or so and then win the Super Bowl.

Hmm, I'd take those two SB wins at the moment.  Super Bowls are everything.  You have Steeler fans crowing over SB's they weren't even alive for and Bears fans have ridden that 85 team for nearly 40 years of mediocrity and total crap.  The Browns could win the SB in 2021 and then stink for the next 30 years and I doubt their fans would shut up about it.

[Wes Mantooth]

I think there's some disconnect on what it means to be competitive as it relates to this conversation.  I'm not going to say which is right or wrong, but I would like to share how it is I understood when it was initially used (when the stadium deal was being worked).

When that term was used (competitive), I think many of understood as much more than simply being better on the field.

By saying a new stadium would allow you to be more competitive we didn't believe that a new field would automatically make us a better team.  We thought what that meant is that the old one was preventing the Bengals from spending or investing more.  And with a new stadium, and the influx of money it would bring the Brown family, it would allow them to better their approach.

Very simply put:  We imagined they'd use this revenue to build out their front office; maybe hire a GM, hire more scouts, build a practice facility, etc.

That's at least how I understood it.  They couldn't do these things before because their revenue wasn't as strong as it would be with a new stadium.  They could sell more luxury boxes and at higher prices, they could sell more tickets (capacity size went up by 20%) and with these changes they could spend more.

But that really hasn't happened.  None of it.  People point to free agency but don't understand that doesn't mean more dollars are being spent, it just changes how those dollars are spent.  And with league rules requiring you meet a cap floor, it's largely unavoidable if your roster dosen't have enough good players to retain.

Aside from overall player spending, which is regulated by the league itself, the Bengals aren't competitive in spending.  They are at, or near the bottom in every single other catergory.  To me, that's not being competitive.

[yang]

I wonder what these would look like if the choices were "winnable' or "unlikely to win".

[*rfaulk34*]

(05-24-2021, 11:48 AM)XenoMorph Wrote: Well simple a winning season is win you win more games than lose right?  we had 5 in arow not long ago if your memory is failing..

They ultimately were not Successful at the Grand Goal of winning a superbowl and we are in the same boat as 31 other teams each year on that.

How many other teams are in the Bengals boat of no playoff wins in 3 decades?