The 2011 Cincinnati Bengals: A Team of Hope, A Team of Fears

by BeerRun on Aug 17, 2011 10:00 PM EDT in I Wonder..

Over at CBS, Mike Freeman joins the parade of columnists examining the foibles and failures of the NFL's most forlorn franchise, our own beloved Cincinnati Bengals. Of all the recent efforts, Freeman's stands out to me because instead of writing jokes or penning a polemic, he adopts a just-the-facts approach that minimizes the editorializing and -- most importantly -- does some actual reporting on Bengals players and their thoughts on the state and prospects of the team.

What he found was this:

In speaking with several Bengals players this is the portrait they portray of the current state of the Bengals:

• Spirited practices.

• Hard-working coaching staff.

• Players and coaches who truly care.

• Stubborn ownership stuck in the 1970s -- polyester in a dri-fit world.

• A feeling that this year will be better.

• A fear that this year will be the same.

That really struck me, if only because it parallels how I feel about this team so closely, especially the last two points. And I'm not sure if knowing that there are Bengals who are afraid this season will be another disaster makes me feel better or worse. On the one hand, you'd have to be crazy not to wonder if this team is improved, but on the other wouldn't you want all the players to be convinced that's the case? But then again, in that case, wouldn't you then have to conclude the roster was made up of nincompoops?

As for the dim view of ownership, that's little surprise considering what Freeman found about the locker room's view of former QB Carson Palmer:

"There were split feelings about Carson in the locker room. A lot of players privately support Carson," said one Bengals player who like several others spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing retribution from management. "There are guys who wish they could afford to do what he did. Others have just let it go. They've blocked him out."

I don't want this to become another Palmer thread. We've got enough of those already. The real importance of what Freeman found, at least in my opinion, is that there are still Bengals players (in apparently significant numbers) who would prefer to be playing someplace else. And that suggests to me that the fears of same old, same old will be realized much sooner than the hopes of better days.

I can't help but sympathize with players who want out. But at the same time, I also can't help but think that until the Bengals get 53 players who actually want to be there, they won't be winning much of anything. So let this be a plea. Not to management for change. We know that isn't going to happen. Let this be a plea to those players who want out:

I get it. I really do. But for all us fans who can never get out, who will be wearing paper bags and Mike Brown Sucks t-shirts to our graves, who know hope only as a word in the dictionary, I'm asking. Want to be a Bengal. Just for this season. Do it to spite Mr. Stuck-in-the-Seventies, do it to boost your price tag next March, do it just for kicks 'n' giggles -- or do it for us. Do it to show they're wrong, that eagles can still soar even if the front office is a turkey farm. Do it for the guys who do want to be here. Most importantly, do it for yourself. And we'll be cheering you on.

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My wife keeps on askin the same question

The answer is. I drink aolt of whiskey and love football and Sunday’s but mb is the biggest sum bag of all time. To put it nicely

by njbengalstat on Aug 17, 2011 10:08 PM EDT reply actions

well this kind of took a little wind out of my sails about this season

until we have guys that want to be here and want to win here its gonna be mediocrity i do feel. I wish they all played with the childish fervor that Jerome Simpson plays with

by beast_ on Aug 17, 2011 10:17 PM EDT reply actions

So well put I just have to copy paste. My feelings exactly.

I get it. I really do. But for all us fans who can never get out, who will be wearing paper bags and Mike Brown Sucks t-shirts to our graves, who know hope only as a word in the dictionary, I’m asking. Want to be a Bengal. Just for this season. Do it to spite Mr. Stuck-in-the-Seventies, do it to boost your price tag next March, do it just for kicks ‘n’ giggles — or do it for us. Do it to show they’re wrong, that eagles can still soar even if the front office is a turkey farm. Do it for the guys who do want to be here. Most importantly, do it for yourself. And we’ll be cheering you on.

Please want to be a Bengal. Want to win. Want to be a team. Want to make those of us that support you tirelessly happy. We don’t have SuperBowl aspirations yet, but it wouldn’t hurt if you did. Be a team.

by Cry on Aug 17, 2011 10:18 PM EDT reply actions

why

Honestly why would anyone want to play here? Did you watch the draft? Cam, Darius, Von Miller all were thrilled, some even crying. AJ Green looked like someone killed his dog, and I can’t blame him. ( I’m not hating on Green)
I hate the fact I am a Bengals fan sometimes , losing sucks, but I am what I am.
I ordered a new hat and Dunlaps’ Jersey for the game this weekend, $300.00 for tickets to a preseason game. I want to see them win,I am so sick of listening to my brother( Jets Fan).

We need to have hope, it’s all we got.

"Next season will be better" circa 1990
Twitter @Rcklarue

by Yarin on Aug 17, 2011 10:37 PM EDT reply actions

Why would anyone want to play here?

How about millions of dollars and the chance to live a dream that very few ever get. I get what you’re saying though. It’s such a tough situation.

by Cry on Aug 17, 2011 11:05 PM EDT up reply actions

(sigh)

WHO DEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by Caleb Burch on Aug 17, 2011 10:45 PM EDT reply actions

trying to get 53 players that want to be here is asking too much.

That would equal the number of fans the bengals have after mike brown took over.

by bengalinflorida on Aug 17, 2011 10:45 PM EDT reply actions

As a fan of this team

These article are really starting to bother me!! Don’t get me wrong I think Mike Brown sucks but I don’t really think the organization as a whole is as bad as everyone portrays. I mean we are only one year removed from winning the toughest division in football. In 2005 (not that long ago), we had arguably one of the best teams in the entire NFL and if Carson doesn’t get hurt who know what would have happened. Everyone is killing Mike Brown and rightfully so, especially for not trading Carson (an asset) for maximmum value just to prove a point. However, in the last several years I beleive the Bengals have had a lot of the peices in place to be a consistent playoff team if they could have just received the above average QB play that they had expected from there franchise QB (Carson) when they drafted #1 overall!!. Unfortunately, since 2006 they have only received average to below average QB play from him and that has killed this team and now he’s killing our image even more than he did with his play. What I’m trying to say is Mikee boy is an easy scapegoat but the reality is Carson underperforming as a #1 overall draft pick (at least since his injury) has just as much to do with this teams struggles and image (at least recently) as Mike Brown. It’s a QB driven league and the bottom line is winning cures all. If Carson would have continued to play like an elite level QB we would have probally made the playoffs 4 or 5 out the last 6 years and our image would be totally different. Please don’t get me wrong, Mike Brown still sucks but so does Carson Palmer!!!

by biggie22 on Aug 17, 2011 10:59 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

On the theme of hope and fears...

Anyone see this piece coming out about Vick in GQ? It’s frustrating.

by DonMegga on Aug 17, 2011 11:06 PM EDT reply actions

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2011/8/17/2369430/michael-vick-gq-philadelphia-eagles-cincinnati-bengals-buffalo-bills

by DonMegga on Aug 17, 2011 11:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Thats some bullsh**

by quickslant on Aug 17, 2011 11:19 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

This can't be legal and Roger Goodell better be worried!!

Mike Brown may not care all that much about putting a winning team on the field but unfortunately as we know all too well, he does care about winning the off field issues (ie Hamilton County, Carson Palmer, etc.)!!! If this is true Mike Brown will have Roger Goodell’s A$$!!!

by biggie22 on Aug 17, 2011 11:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Wow! He should be fired over that..

Give pizza chants.

by 80%OFTHETIMEIMRIGHTEVERYTIME on Aug 18, 2011 12:08 AM EDT up reply actions

You gotta be kidding me...

If true, that is completely effed up.

by crbuzz on Aug 18, 2011 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions

That explains everything.

by Doc Scratch on Aug 18, 2011 10:33 AM EDT up reply actions

I thought Freeman's article was great

He didn’t just go on his initial impressions of “Palmergate” and the first preseason game and make shallow observations/predictions like most sports writers/talking heads have been doing lately. He delved into the team’s hopes and fears and gave the context of those feelings, and even portrayed Lewis in a fair light. It’s a team on the brink…of what we really don’t know. It’s easy to say failure, because most people would probably say that’s the winning horse at this point. But we all know that sports is also about the underdog, and overcoming adversity. Another point Freeman made: There’s an owner there who most people despise, who is stuck in the past. The team is a separate entity, and even with less resources and less support from above, they can change the culture if they really want it.

by Israeli on Aug 17, 2011 11:51 PM EDT reply actions

Totally agree

I have to say that I think the reporter nailed it. Unlike most reporters who regurgitate the same old anti Bengal talking points, he took the time to research and evaluate the current situation. It’s disappointing that some players have those feelings but it’s not surprising.

by K312 on Aug 18, 2011 1:46 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Evidence that he's actually a good writer.

Most just cater to the large-market teams.

by Doc Scratch on Aug 18, 2011 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions

????????

Im really surprised no one talks about the bengals training staff.. C’mon!!!! Everytime one of players go dwn, we expect them ta b out weeks at a time. I love this team to death, but the reason we nevrr make the playoffs is because we are never healthy

by BengalNation on Aug 18, 2011 1:15 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

We just got a new medical staff..

What else can you say at this point? New conditioning coaches? I guess.

by Cry on Aug 18, 2011 1:34 AM EDT up reply actions

I'm joining Carson in sitting this year out

For the past 8 years I have had 4 season tickets. My wife, son and I have been to most home games over these years, and we have usually taken a friend of my boy to treat him to NFL football . This will stop this year. The Cincinnatti bengals are not an NFL football team. It takes more thaan uniforms to make a football team. What Cincinnatti and Hamilton County now have is simply a fraud perpetrated against them. The Bengals, recently named the worst pro franchise in America is simply a moneymaking venture of Mike brown’s. While hamilton County residents fund his luxury boxes, Mike Brown has compiled a fraud of a football team. The front office and scouting divisions of the Bengals would be appropriate for an arena league football team. The talent isn’t much better. The Bengals would not be title contentenders in the CFL. Mike Brown spends no money on scouting or on salaries for players. At about $40 million under the salary cap, and with Carson Palmer sitting idle in retirement when The despicable Brown could have gotten a high draft pick or maybe even a couple useful players for trading him,, would rather keep the money. He’ll get NFL revenue sharing and equal distribution of television revenue, yet he’ll spend 440 million less in player salaries. And the "small market " excuse doesn’t cut it because Pittsburg kicks ass yearly, and will again this year. I’m angry and bitter because I loved football Sundays, but I will be in tacit compliance with Mike Brown’s exploitation of Cincinnatti football fans for another minute. I honestly think that the best thing any true bengals fan could do is stay home from the stafium, refuse to buy Bengals swag, and write as many letters as you can to the Cincinnatti Enquirer calling for the removal of Mike Brown as an NFL owner unless he makes an effort to put a team on the field that can compete in the NFL. Major league baseball got rid of Marge Schott . is Mike Brown any less scandalous as an owner? Stay home! Show this creep, Mike Brown that unless he wants a stadium filled with empty seats he’s going to have to put an NFL calibre team in Cinci or change ticket prices to those commensurate with the arena football league, which is about the level at which the Bengals could compete!

by Bill Hilt on Aug 18, 2011 4:20 AM EDT reply actions

"We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope."

Sure. Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson

by UpStateMike on Aug 18, 2011 4:33 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Great read.

Easily the best article I have read bout the bengals. Freeman deserves plenty of praise.

by hobartbengal on Aug 18, 2011 10:00 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

agree....

It’s a good piece. True to the facts, but not bashing.

by goffchile on Aug 18, 2011 10:05 AM EDT up reply actions

I'm impressed that someone looked deeper than the surface.

Just that one quote said a lot. Not only do people not want to be here, but that there’s such a fear from above from the management that they’re probably scared out of here the second they can go. And we don’t know who. This place is hell for them. I love this team. I love watching it. But I somehow wonder if I can stomach watching men play for a tyrant who will punish them for having their own thoughts and differing ideas and wishing other men to come here.

by Doc Scratch on Aug 18, 2011 10:52 AM EDT reply actions

Also, reading the comments on the article is disappointing.

At one point there’s a gogdamn Squeelers fan who thinks he knows everything about us.

by Doc Scratch on Aug 18, 2011 11:13 AM EDT up reply actions

I stopped reading comments

On sports stories about the Bengals. I’m ok with this forum, but commenters on news stories in general are pretty ignorant, dumb, racist or just plain angry and toxic. That’s for news stories. For sports stories they’re even worse.

by Israeli on Aug 18, 2011 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions