Bengals continue to suck the fun out of being a fan

I didn’t really want my first Bengals post to be negative, but I guess we’ve gotta rip the bandaid off sometime.

(This is also why I haven’t made time to write a Reds post yet.)

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The news of Joe Burrow not only getting hurt again but somehow suffering the worst-possible version of this particular injury (not just turf toe but enough damage to require surgery that means a long recovery time) is tough to take…

Since the insanely fun Super Bowl run, I think fans have wanted three things from the Bengals:

Now it looks like the club will be 1 for 4 on delivering those goals over the last four seasons.

While missing the playoffs the last two seasons obviously was disappointing, the slow starts made the whole thing feel a lot worse in my opinion.

To that end, it’s sort of remarkable the degree to which the Bengals have failed their fans for now a third straight year.

Last year was really miserable from a fan standpoint because they sucked all the hope out of it almost as soon as possible with the awful start. That meant every week was life or death for postseason hopes².

September 2023 was also rough with the ugly losses to the Browns and Titans. They managed to right the ship, but only in time for Burrow to hurt his wrist before the fun really got going. Even with Jake Browning leading a few wins later in the season, the lack of Burrow left a pall over the whole thing.

Now this.

I actually think their schedule is so weak and their offensive skill players are so good they could realistically go like 4-8 over the next three months and be in the mix heading into the last three weeks.

Could Burrow be back in mid-December, lead them to wins over the Dolphins, Cardinals and Browns and into the playoffs?

Stranger things have happened, but sitting here in the middle of September and thinking about not getting to watch Burrow play for three months is disheartening to say the least.

Ohio high school football notes: Week 4

Maybe that’s true of most teams, but it’s tough seeing them earn a certain reputation among NFL fans (and national media) then continue to punish fans for trying to defend them by delivering yet more disappointment.

The team also spurs a lot of smart discourse and people who actually are pretty good at pointing out what they need to do to get better, be it in the offseason or ahead of a game, but that only serves to make it more frustrating when they don’t do those things.

Beyond that, the degree to which the Bengals prove the naysayers in their own fan base right is remarkable, too.

Then again, you don’t have to be a doomsayer to see what they have done wrong over the past five years.

Sometimes good decisions don’t pan out.

While the jury is still out on the defense (I’m not too down on them yet), that is not what happened with the 2025 offensive line.

They actually did a decent job constructing the line the last three offseasons, but this line being a disaster was easy to see from a mile away.

The Bengals went into the offseason needing two new starting guards and ended up with one who is a rookie and is going to take his lumps even if he ends up being good while the other spot is a black hole, and they don’t really have anyone on the bench who could realistically step into a bigger role, either.

They also little-to-no depth at tackle, so Duke Tobin and crew really outdid themselves by assembling an offensive line that doesn’t have five quality starters but also has almost worthless depth.

You’d think they could at least avoid one of those two scenarios, right?

But they spent most of their time signing their expensive toys t¹hey could have been trading for more offensive linemen or defensive backs.

They had the money to spend on another veteran offensive lineman but apparently didn’t have the bandwidth to actually find one to sign.

That seems like a uniquely Bengals problem with their small front office and scouting staff.

…but I think it’s clear the Bengals could at least use a new coaching staff and new turf:

I fully understand the value play for high schools that need to get 5-7 days of use out of a field and can’t afford to pay anyone to take care of it, but NFL teams and the richest college programs should do whatever it takes to have natural grass.

The players prefer it, it just looks better for what that’s worth, and if there is any negative injury impact from turf having it is not worth anything.

(I’d also guess that injuries and wear and tear from turf are less of a concern on younger, much lighter bodies of high school players who aren’s stressing their ligaments like pro football players do. I’m sure many of these ligament injuries are at least somewhat from overuse. Maybe that’s even true of Burrow.)

Buckeyes still figuring out what they want to be on offense

He hasn’t seemed to develop at all in that regard since he arrived in Cincinnati as possibly the least-qualified new head coach in league history.

His play-calling is probably average, but it’s not good enough to justify continuing doing it if that is taking away from his ability to make decisions in the maelstrom of game day.

You have to give him credit for his ability to manage the locker room, especially when the front office does so much to demoralize the players, but he and Burrow are also a terrible match from an offensive standpoint.

That is because someone needs to be an adult and tell Burrow they can’t just send out five in the pattern every time and put maximal stress on the offensive line every play like he wants to.

Again, give them credit for trying to diversify the attack somewhat with more usage of a second tight end or fullback, but let’s be honest: Under Taylor, they are never going to get away from the quasi run-and-shoot scheme Burrow wants to run, and that will continue to put him at risk far more than should be necessary to let him thrive.

So yeah, I’m going to keep watching just like I haven’t tuned out the Reds despite their being a few hitters short of being true contenders — like the Bengals offensive line, a situation that seems to have been avoidable — but the situation sucks.