Bob Bratkowski now a Consultant with Cincinnati Bengals

This year's coaching staff will feature a very familiar face for the Cincinnati Bengals. buried within the Bengals media guide is the name of a former coach who many Bengals fans still cringe at hearing the name of.

Roaming the sideline again will be the former offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski. (H/T to nfl391 for the find).

Many remember the much-maligned and heavily-criticized Bengals offensive coordinator’s decade in Cincinnati as one with a run of a few spectacular years mixed with maddeningly inconsistent units that struggled to reach the endzone.

When in Cincinnati, he was often criticized for his offensive system, but even more so his predictable play-calling. A poor offensive line did not help a offensive playbook that contains many slow-developing plays.

His offensive system was often accused of being stale and ineffective. It seemed as though he used a playbook consisting of mainly four passing plays, but sometimes, it seemed even less than that. The trick was the option routes, adjusted based on coverage.

Remember all the interceptions that led directly to Carson Palmer yelling at Chad Johnson? Many times those were a result of Chad not properly reading overages and subsequently adjusting his route.

One strength of Brat though was his ability to adapt to the talent on the roster. He was willing to change his offensive philosophy and identity, switching from a run-heavy attack with Cedric Benson to pass-heavy with T.O., Jordan Shipley and Ochocinco, and vica versa.

Regardless, it never hurts to have a consultant on the team with Bratkowski's NFL experience.

Team(s) as a coach/administrator

1992-1994
1995-1998
1999-2000
2001-2010
2011
2012

Seahawks - (WR)
Seahawks- (OC)
Steelers - (WR)
Bengals - (OC)
Falcons - (QB)
Jaguars - (OC)

Love him or hate him, Bratkowski has oversaw the growth of several talented receivers, including Johnson, TJ Houshmandzadeh, Chris Henry, Julio Jones, Cecil Shorts, Derrick Mayes, Shawn Dawkins and others.

Hopefully, he can continue to help with the development of AJ Green, Marvin Jones, Cobi Hamilton and Mohamed Sanu, all of whom have three or fewer years of experience in the NFL.