The Bengals’ 34-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night put quite a few things in perspective. What’s most apparent is that this team has an appallingly high amount of glaring problems. Their chances for making the playoffs are nearly insurmountable. And with that it’s fair to look to what it might take to fix this team in the long term.
The Good News
Whatever the sport, if a team has a core of game-breaking players, there is a chance for sustained success. The Bengals can make a legitimate case that they have the best quarterback, wide receiver, and defensive end in the National Football League. If you start there, there are plenty of reasons for optimism.
No Cincinnati team will ever be out of any game if Joe Burrow is on the field. If Ja’Marr Chase is with him, the points will fall like rain in a summer storm. Defensive end is one of the most impactful positions on the field. And in today’s NFL someone like Trey Hendrickson is worth his weight in gold. Cincinnati has amazing players at some of the most important positions in the game.
But the NFL is not the NBA. You can’t just pack you team with a couple of superstars and let them carry you. With so many players seeing the field, depth is a requirement to winning in the game as it’s playing out today. And that is where the Bengals have fallen woefully short this year.
What Is Holding This Team Back: Front Office Edition
If a team has the star players to light up the scoreboard, but refuses to pay them, those stars quickly migrate to greener pastures. And so the optimism of having a game-wrecking wide receiver like Chase, and a sack artist like Trey Hendrickson only goes so far. It is dampened by the fact that they both were vocally unhappy about their contract situation. The front office kicked those cans down the road. But those bills are coming due in extremely short order and the cost and cap impact will no doubt be steep.
But at the end of the day, can this team really function without either Chase or Hendrickson in the coming 2-3 years? They’ve not shown they can draft and develop talent (outside of obvious stars). They’ve not shown that they can scout and sign impactful free agents. The Bengals have one of the smallest player personnel departments in the league. The employees who do work in that department don’t have even the barest track record of success. And so if franchise players like Trey and Ja’Marr are allowed to walk, the cupboard is essentially bare.
The ownership and executives refuse to pay players or make impactful trades. Other free agents in the league see this “business model” and are understandably leery. They might want to play with Joe Burrow but that desire is counterbalanced by knowing that you’ll be playing for a franchise that pinches pennies harder than Ebeneezer Scrooge.
What the Bengals Have to Fix Moving Forward
When you look at the holes this team has, it is honestly staggering. The following positions need either serious upgrades or complete overhauls:
- Offensive Guard (x2)
- Defensive End
- Defensive Tackle (at least one)
- Cornerback
- Safety (x2)
- Kicker
That is a lengthy list of at least nine players (and perhaps more) that the Bengals must upgrade to have a chance to succeed. With the limitations this front office has shown in drafting, signing players, and developing them, what is the reasonable timetable for Cincinnati to get better at those positions to slow down the top offenses in the NFL?
It certainly looks like an effort that will take more than one season to remedy. I won’t bandy about the word “rebuild” but it is hard to “reload” such a significant portion of this team’s starters. The bottom line is that this team appears farther away from contending for a championship than any time in recent memory.
There aren’t any disastrous injuries to star players. They had one of the most favorable schedules in the league this year. They are getting MVP performances from three separate players.
And yet they are 4-7.
What Is Holding This Team Back: Coaching Edition
Zac Taylor took this team to a Super Bowl. Lou Anarumo and the defense helped propel them there. But the good times and hugs are long in the rear-view window at this point. It’s clear from the body language of the players, and their own words, that they are tired of playing for coaches that cannot help this team win.
We all know that current ownership will not fire Zac Taylor no matter how badly this team performs. They may sacrifice Lou Anarumo as a distraction, but that’s likely it. That is, unless stars like Burrow and Chase make their dissatisfaction known and make some threats that might motivate the team to take some drastic action.
But based upon how tone-deaf Cincinnati has been thus far, I will not hold my breath.
Yes, Lou Anarumo doesn’t have a lot to work with. But that’s no excuse for refusing to play Jordan Battle or DJ Turner, all the while watching Geno Stone and Cam Taylor-Britt give up touchdown after touchdown. Zac Taylor is often praised as a “locker room guy” but that mojo has clearly expired.
This team is tired of playing for these coaches. The fans are tired of the platitudes these coaches put forth week after week. Whatever is being done now clearly is not working, despite some of the best players in team history lighting it up on the field.
Things simply cannot continue on the way that they’re going. But if no changes are made, we are in for a long, dark period of mediocrity, if not worse. It’s up to the ownership and front office to fix what is wrong within the window of time we have with the star players still on our roster.
If they fail, it will be one of the biggest missed opportunities in Cininnati sports.
The. Clock. Is. Ticking.
Photo Credit Sam Greene/The Enquirer-USA TODAY NETWORK
