Bengals Aren't Expecting A Sellout Against Buffalo On November 21

by Josh Kirkendall on Nov 11, 2010 6:13 PM EST in Analysis

After the Bengals play the Indianapolis Colts this weekend, the team will make a return trip home to prepare for the winless Buffalo Bills on Sunday November 21. Even though the Bengals haven't lost a game by more than eight points since their 14-point loss to the New England Patriots during opening weekend, fans are done. Even though Cincinnati's -23 point differential is actually better than seven teams with a .500 record or better, fans are done. Even though there's been virtually no game that Cincinnati was realistically within striking distance to win since opening weekend, fans are simply done with this team, feeling that their money and Sundays are put to better use than spending it on the Bengals.

The reality is that the Bengals, a team we all expected to have a winning record better than .250, has a winning record of .250. And considering that the Bills have little, if any, fan presence in the area, the Bengals aren't optimistic that they'll sell out for November 21st game against the Buffalo Bills.

"There is a meaningful number of tickets left for the Buffalo game. As a result, we don't expect the game being sold out," said ticket sales manager Andrew Brown.

While Geoff Hobson writes that the Bengals aren't expecting to sellout, Joe Reedy simply declares the sellout streak over.

Bengals officials have acknowledged that next Sunday’s game against Buffalo is no where within range of a sellout or even to get a 24-hour extension from the league office. That means the 57-game streak of regular season and postseason sellouts will officially end on Thursday at 1 p.m., when the game will be blacked out.

If you're mildly confused at the relatively quickness of the announcement that their 57-game sellout streak broken, the game is not officially blacked out until Thursday, November 18th when the game must be sold out by 1 p.m., or 72 hours before kickoff.

Either way, the reality is that the Bengals are a disappointing 2-6 and frustrated fans have better uses to spend their money than supporting the Cincinnati Bengals. And the ticket office, and by extension the front office, knows it. One has to hope that this humbles the front office to a degree to make offseason changes, rather than an outdated model that rarely results in a successful NFL franchise. But who are we kidding?

After the Bills, the Bengals will host the New Orleans Saints on December 5, the Cleveland Browns on December 19 with their home finale on December 26 against the San Diego Chargers.

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Ten facts about Mike Brown’s record-setting ineptitude in Cincy

As first linked by Comrade Bungles505 in the comments, Yahoo put together an amazing article that might have to be incorproated into our “Bengals Futility – By the Numbers” on the right side. Without comment, here is the Yahoo article.

On Monday night, the Cincinnati Bengals lost their 200th game since Mike Brown took over as owner and president in 1991. According to Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer, that’s the quickest an NFL owner has ever reached that mark. Brown’s Bengals are 113-200-1 over the past 20 seasons.

It’s another mark of infamy for one of the league’s most inept franchises. How bad has Cincinnati been in the Mike Brown(notes) era? We decided to look deeper into the numbers:

1. It took 314 games for Brown to lose 200. The previous record, Reedy notes, was held by the original owner of the Atlanta Falcons, Rankin Smith, who did it in 327 games. (The third-shortest road to 200 losses was by Art Rooney of the Steelers, which is a pretty big surprise considering Pittsburgh has the most Super Bowl titles).

2. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers began playing in 1995, but both franchises have more wins than Mike Brown has had, despite the fact they’ve been playing for four fewer seasons. Jacksonville has 129 franchise victories, Carolina has 118.

3. Brown’s teams haven’t won a playoff game during his tenure. Every other team that has existed since 1991 has won at least one postseason game. (The last playoff win for Cincinnati was in 1990, the year before Brown took over. The Texans haven’t won a playoff game, but they only joined the league in 2002.)

4. The team has finished over .500 twice since 1991.

5. Twice is also the amount of times Cincinnati has made the playoffs in Brown’s 20 seasons at the helm. (We’re assuming the 2-6 Bengals don’t make it this year.) The Detroit Lions have made it six times in that stretch.

6. In those 20 years, the Bengals have ranked in the top 10 on offense or defense just five times. They’ve been ranked No. 22 or below 18 times.

7. The Bengals have been outscored by 1,488 points during Brown’s reign. They’ve only outscored opponents in five of Brown’s full 19 seasons.

8. Brown was the fastest to 200 losses, but the slowest to 100 wins. It took the team 288 games to get to the century mark, the slowest in NFL history.

9. Since 1991 there have been 13 times when an NFL team began the season 0-8. The Bengals have done it four of those times.

10. The Bengals have had a winless October in eight of Brown’s 20 seasons. His teams started 0-21 in the month before getting its first win in the month on Oct. 19, 1995.

by Diesel2405 on Nov 11, 2010 6:23 PM EST reply actions

This is time for a prayer,

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to wins;
Taking, as Mike Brown did, this sinful franchise as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to Mike Browns Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next
Amen.

by WHYUS!! on Nov 11, 2010 7:04 PM EST up reply actions

This is another Hall of Fame post for our Hall of Fame Posts section

by Diesel2405 on Nov 11, 2010 7:28 PM EST up reply actions

One would think that Mike Brown would eventually commit suicide in shame!

by JamesShively on Nov 11, 2010 7:13 PM EST reply actions

Here's on for you..

Trust in Mike Brown with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will direct the path to the Super Bowl.

Eventually!!

by WHYUS!! on Nov 11, 2010 7:24 PM EST up reply actions

My turn.

Hail Gruden, full of grace.
The Jungle is with thee.
Blessed art thou among coaches,
and blessed is the fruit of thy labors, the Tampa 2.
Holy Gruden, father of a Super Bowl champion,
control our team now, until the hour of Mike Brown’s death.
Amen.

Win a ring without the king! Cavs=2011 champs?

by sexsalad on Nov 11, 2010 7:36 PM EST up reply actions

LOL, That's great b/c I want Gruden too. But,

Must I refer back to the first prayer, b/c Mike Brown will not hire Gruden. Accept the things you can not change..

by WHYUS!! on Nov 11, 2010 7:50 PM EST up reply actions

Keep coming back ! It works if you work it !

by JamesShively on Nov 11, 2010 8:31 PM EST up reply actions

Funny, I might actually be going to this game...

by BeerRun on Nov 11, 2010 10:09 PM EST reply actions

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition

"If we always agree, one of us is not necessary"

by JUNGLEJOHN on Nov 11, 2010 11:01 PM EST reply actions

To the point of the post, does it surprise you that.......

people might not want to watch a former backup QB we thought was crap come back here and wax the tail to the guy he was backing up? I am not sure we can beat Buffalo and that is sad.

"If we always agree, one of us is not necessary"

by JUNGLEJOHN on Nov 11, 2010 11:16 PM EST reply actions