(Today, 12:28 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: If anyone is on the fence on dolphins or colts losing a game against a bad game, I guess you’re not watching TNF. A playoff team needing a must win, is really struggling against a 4 win team. Not saying the bears will win, but it’s not crazy to think that mediocre teams can lose to a bad team. I’d consider dolphins, colts and broncos (against chiefs backups) all mediocre. You could throw bengals into that conversation as well, but the biggest difference is you have a (should be) MVP candidate, a OPTY candidate and a pretty good pass rusher.
You are not wrong. There is no point in giving up the ghost. It does us no good.
We have the last two games against, in my view, non-contender teams who have winning records, one of whom has clinched a PO spot.
It will be a good measuring stick for where we are.
We have been pretty banged up for some time. Missing starters at RB, RT, DT, DE, LB, CB, PK, and contributors at TE and CB: Moss, Trent Brown, Rankins, Hubbard, L. Wilson, D. Hill, McPherson, All, and Turner). That's 28% of our starters (7/25) and had 2 more benched (Volson, Bell). And another who had been benched (CTB) regain his starting job. 9/22 opening day starters on O/D are not playing.
We thought some guys were gonna be starter quality, and paid them accordingly, and they just have not been. In fact, our list of "quality starters" is pretty thin heading into next year: Burrow, Chase, Chase Brown, and Hendrickson is about it. Higgins, BJ Hill, and Hilton are FA's. Orlando Brown, Mims, Karras, Logan Wilson, Pratt, CTB, Dax Hill, Stone, Battle, Rehkow, and Adomitis all range from just slightly above mediocre to barely adequate.
Anyway, my point is we should find out a lot about who should go and who should stay in the remaining two games. But the coaches & FO have not shown an ability to discren the diffetence lately (Rankins, Bell, Moss, Volson, Stone, etc.)
But there are fantastic building blocks. Burrow & Chase may win triple crowns: yards, tds, rec/comp. Hendrickson is leading in sacks. Chase Brown has been fantastic despite a mediocre line. Mims, Jenkins, and Jackson are all showing some legit potential after being thrust in to bigger roles sooner than we wanted due to injury, or being injured themselves in camp.
Despite all this, we've been a whisker away from beating the Chiefs, Ravens (twice), Chargers, and Commanders. And hung with Philly for a half, Pitt too.
My long winded point is, despite all that has gone wrong, we are still alive. And if we win tomorrow, we still will be in Week 18. You give up after you're dead, not before. And even if we fail, it is a useful evaluation. This shouldn't be some long rebuild, we need to fix this while Burrow, Chase, and Trey are still here.