With a new head coach but largely the same Cincinnati Bengals roster, we’ll see how much of the problem was Marvin Lewis and how much was the team.
It wasn’t so long ago that the Cincinnati Bengals appeared to be on the precipice of entering a completely new era. It seemed like Marvin Lewis, Andy Dalton, Jeremy Hill, Tyler Eifert, Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap would all be out after three-straight losing seasons. With the exception of A.J. Green, we would see a totally different offensive roster and a revamped front to the Bengals’ defensive attack. The time had come.
Instead, Lewis is out, and new head coach Zac Taylor is inheriting nearly the same group that failed so often when the chips were down. This core was good at one point, but hasn’t been in a while. Cincinnati’s blind confidence and refusal to rebuild means one thing is certain: We will really see now whether or not it was Lewis holding them back.
Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, debate the Cincinnati Bengals in today’s NFL Sports Debate.
Todd Salem:
Zac Taylor has zero head coaching experience, so perhaps we won’t get an answer after all. He got this job because he knows Sean McVay. If he flames out, I could see giving Dalton and company yet another pass for having poor leadership. At some point, this core will be broken apart. It just doesn’t feel like Taylor should be the man whose success decides that. And yet, feeling has little to do with it.
The main addition made to the roster this offseason, besides Taylor, was linebacker Preston Brown. The team decided to remain quiet otherwise and wait for the draft. That makes sense when viewing Cincinnati from the standpoint of the rest of the division. It doesn’t make as much sense when viewing that core.
The Bengals should be rebuilding. They have a brand new head coach; they play in a division where they will likely finish in last place; they have a relatively high draft pick and a number of pressing holes. The playoffs have been a major disappointment for this franchise in recent years. I don’t expect that to continue in 2019 because it is hard to imagine them even making it.
Except there’s that core. Dalton, Green, Eifert, Atkins and Dunlap are all veterans who are at essentially the peak of their value. So are Gio Bernard, Cordy Glenn and Dre Kirkpatrick. Joe Mixon is already in year three. Tyler Boyd just broke out, but likely won’t top last year’s performance anytime soon. Other than maybe Boyd or Mixon, who is hanging around long enough to grow into a rebuild with Taylor?
The only positive outcome I can foresee is if the veteran core rallies around Taylor and falls in love with him. They have one learning season (this season) and then take advantage of rocky roster construction in Pittsburgh and Baltimore to leap up the AFC North pedestal the following year. If anything but that ideal scenario plays itself out, it hardly makes sense to hold onto this veteran, low-ceiling roster.
Maybe that’s why rumors have the Cincinnati Bengals taking a quarterback with the 11th pick in the first round of the draft. But if that’s the case, just disperse this core like we thought was going to happen two years back.
Dan Salem:
It’s extremely difficult to admit defeat and rebuild, no matter how strong the writing on the wall is. The Cincinnati Bengals believe they have their franchise quarterback and offensive stars already on the roster, which was definitely true two years ago.
A rookie head coach is the ideal scenario to start rebuilding. Their star players still have good value. Now would have been the time to trade them all away. Keeping them ensures one more season of trying to win a division that keeps falling back to the Bengals’ level.
Marvin Lewis had a pretty successful tenure as head coach, with only six losing seasons out of 16 at the helm of Cincinnati. He lead this team to six seasons of double-digit wins, yet they never got past the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, despite seven tries. After three-straight losing seasons, a change was warranted. So why not rebuild? Are they better than Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Baltimore?
The Bengals were not going to disperse their core two years ago, because they were only a season removed from winning the AFC North with 12 victories. But now is certainly a great time to rebuild. The team failed to return to that level of success for three straight seasons.
Keeping almost everyone tells me several things. Cincinnati believes their core is as good, if not better, than their division rivals’. They believe keeping their core is more valuable than the assets they’d receive in return. They also still love Dalton.
I too have not given up on Andy Dalton. Considering the competition, Cincinnati is well positioned to challenge for the division again this season. The 2019 NFL Draft is heavy on defense, meaning the Bengals can improve upon their weakness right now. A fresh voice in the locker room can go a long way towards rejuvenated success.
We will quickly find out if Taylor believes the current Bengals are “his guys” or “players from an old regime.” It usually takes a full year for a new head coach to make this determination and clean house. First year coaches often win a lot with their team’s former core. Cincinnati may not have gotten better, but its direct competition appears worse. Why not double down on this long shot bet? There’s really nothing to lose.