Terrell Owens went out on a limb, which is weighed down to the ground with all other Bengals fans, and said that the Bengals ownership was to blame for Cincinnati's poor performance, especially on the offensive side of the ball, in 2010.
"I think if you look at the talent we had in that locker room this year and we mustered four wins, that should let you know something is not right," Owens said. "Throughout the year, I saw some things that really wasn’t right.
"I’ve made a comment about if you’re trying to win some championships, it starts from the top down. (Warren Sapp) mentioned Mike Brown; I think even before I got there, they said the owner was a little different. Obviously, I saw that. You start with the head coach, and then you start with the staff on both sides of the ball. … Offensively, we really didn’t have the coaching that we really needed to muster what we had on the offensive side of the ball."
Brian Baldinger and Daryl Johnston got together to debate who really was to blame on an NFL.com video.
They began by pointing out that the Bengals were the second worst team in the NFL when it came to allowing points off of turnovers and that they dropped from No. 9 to No. 27 in the NFL in yards rushing per game.
So with talent like Carson Palmer, Chad Ochocinco, Terrell Owens, Jermaine Gresham, Jordan Shipley and Cedric Benson, the Bengals, at least on paper, looked like they were primed for a Super Bowl run. Instead they finished 4-12 and with one of the worst offenses in the NFL. Who's to blame?
According to Baldinger it's the change in offensive philosophy from 2009 to 2010.
"I just think they changed their philosophy last year," he said. "I think bringing TO in, drafting Jordan Shipley and Jermaine Gresham high, like they did, they went from being this run based offense where Cedric Benson was the foundation to the offense. Last year, the threw the ball 120 more times than they did the year before. The year before they were 6-0 in the division, they won close tight games because they finished games because they controlled the tempo of games. Last year they just weren't able to do that."
Johnston feels as though the Bengals players and management are equally to blame.
"I think the big thing, when you have a season like they had, when you look at the roster and you see the names that are on there, on the sheets of paper and it doesn't come together, those guys have to take part of the blame," he said. "This is never ownership, coaching, it's a mix. It's everybody, it's players. Everybody knows about Mike Brown, and you know the rumors that the organization has somethings that they need to fix. Marvin Lewis has been outspoken about that for his tenure there. There's things that he would like to change. It sounds like he's going to get those changes. But, Terrell has to also understand that talent alone does not win championships."
They went on to say that it is important for the Bengals to isolate what the problem(s) was in 2010 and then fix it. I wish them luck.