While we wait for 2017 training camp to commence, we thought it was time for a review of a critical point in Cincinnati Bengals history. With some big help from Jim Owczarski of The Cincinnati Enquirer and his recent series reviewing 50 years of Bengals history, we decided to revisit a critical decision Paul Brown made more than 40 years ago on this week’s episode of The Orange and Black Insider.
Instead of handing over the reins of the team to Bill Walsh after his retirement, Brown went with what he felt was the safer route and hired Bill “Tiger” Johnson as the head coach. On the surface, one could easily say that Walsh would have been the better option for the Bengals, but as Scott pointed out on the program, there were actually quite a few parallels between the two coaches, in terms of successes and failures, from 1976 up until about 1984.
And, as most fans know, after Johnson is when Sam Wyche became the team’s coach. Even though Wyche had quite the decorated career with Cincinnati, Walsh’s career was beginning to peak at that time. Along with asking some interesting hypothetical questions about the Bengals and Walsh, all of the connections between he, Wyche and the Bengals remain crazily intertwined.
We also answered a myriad of listener questions once again! If you want yours to be answered on the air, join us live. We’re here at Cincy Jungle and on YouTube every Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET to interact with Bengals fans.
You can download the audio of this OBI episode via SoundCloud.
If you’re unable to join us live, all Orange and Black Insider content is here on Cincy Jungle, as well as on our SoundCloud and YouTube channels, and on iTunes! You can tweet us @BengalsOBI or get in touch with us via email at theobinsider@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!