If Cincinnati politicians had a brain in their heads they would have bought the stock instead of letting Mike Brown get his hands on it. We could have been 30% on our way to owning the team like Green Bay (not just the half-empty stadium)and getting rid of amateur hour.

I have been a diehard fan since the Bengals were founded and was actually happy to see the last of Palmer and, especially, Ocho. But after keeping so many "star" players who did not want to be in Cincinnati, letting Jonathan Joseph, who wanted to be there and the only all-pro on the team walk to a conference opponent they would play THIS YEAR was almost too much to take. Keeping him would have, I believe, resulted in at least 2 more wins (starting with the 1 point loss to Houston) and probably kept Hall from overwork and injury. How do you not lock down that tandem when you are so far under the cap?

Brown does just enough to keep attendance respectable but is ALWAYS a few starters and many backups short of fielding a Superbowl winning team. We are always rooting for future potential, never for a mature product. I love the Bengals, I still watch every game,went to spring training, love the heart and effort in the players, but I am tired and really don't dare to think that they have a championship team. And Sunday, when Torrey Smith is streaking down the sideline and our secondary suffers another one of its many breakdowns (you can't always expect the opponents to trip) we will wallow in the fact that this all could have been so much more if Brown had even a little competence and vision