It’s not often you talk -- or even care -- about a team that’s 1-9 (Cincinnati Bengals) until you start to realize why they’re 1-9, and you see it’s because of the decisions they make.
First, there is the whole Chad Johnson debacle, he wanted out; he told them he didn’t want to play for them anymore and they were offered a first round pick in this year’s draft. By the way, some of the picks this year in the 21-25 range were OT Sam Baker, RB Felix Jones, RB Rashard Mendenhall and RB Chris Johnson. Oh, that’s right they didn’t need a running back because they had Rudi Johnson (cut in training camp), hence the reason they went out and signed Cedric Benson. And they could have gotten a third rounder in ‘09 that could have escalated up to a second or first based on Chad’s performance with the Skins.
The Bengals, doing what they usually do, passed on a great offer. They decided it was better to keep a player who didn’t want to be there and didn’t buy into their system rather than accommodate his wishes because they were going to show Chad Johnson who the boss is. Ask yourself this, if you were running a company and someone consistently trashed your company and wanted out and you were offered something valuable in return for their services, wouldn’t you pull the trigger? Why would anyone want somebody that made it perfectly clear they wanted no part of you?
So Chad gets $3 million for 41 catches and 4 touchdowns (none over 10 yards) and no catch over 22, hence showing them who’s boss by collecting full salary and giving half of his talent.
Then there was that whole deactivation thing for falling asleep and talking back to a coach. Not a suspension -- a deactivation, which means – you guessed it, he still got paid in full for a game he didn’t play in. On the bright side, the Bengals won the battle of the minds -- job well done Bengals. You get to keep Chad Johnson.
Now for the games – sure, Carson Palmer has been out and no team is going to be that successful when they’re starting QB is out. Prime example: the Dallas Cowboys. However, this past week, they’re playing the Steelers, down by 13 with 4th-and-goal from the 8-yard line and they kicked a field goal with 6:50 left. In short they went from down by two scores, to down by two scores. Sure, it cut it to a touchdown and field goal but it’s still a two-possession game and there was only 6:50 left. I know what you’re thinking -- play the odds. Odds? What are the odds the Steelers D is going to give up two scores in the fourth quarter of a game in less than six minutes? NONE! It hasn’t happened this year.
Speaking of odds, how many times do you think the Bengals are going to score three times in a quarter? To make matters worse, they allowed the Steelers to drive right down the field and score again to make it a three-score game. But hey, the card in Marvin's pocket says go for the field goal, so that’s what they did. It’s time to put the card away, coach, and play out of the box.
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