Bengals lost cool, chance to change image
With less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of their AFC Wild Card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cincinnati Bengals had every reason in the world to be going to the AFC Divisional round.
The Bengals were leading by a 16-15 score and had the ball deep inside of Pittsburgh territory after a Vontaze Burfict interception. Cincinnati only needed to run into the line three times, kick an easy field goal and then not allow a Hail Mary. Instead, the Queen City was crowned one more time.
On first down, Jeremy Hill fumbled the ball away. On the ensuing Pittsburgh drive, a hurting Ben Roethlisberger came back onto the field and would likely have seen his last-minute effort die in vein, if not for the worst consecutive penalties in playoff history.
On a first down throw with less than 30 seconds remaining, Burfict decided the moment was right for a cheap shot and hit the defenseless Antonio Brown squarely in the head, giving Brown a concussion. The result was a personal foul and the 15 yards the Steelers needed to be on the fringe of field goal range. Miraculously, the Bengals were not done. Adam Jones got into the mug of an official, drawing another 15-yard infraction. The Steelers kicked the game-winning field goal on the next down, after gaining 30 yards without the benefit of a play.
All of this leads to the inevitable conclusion that this Bengals team simply needs to be reshuffled. While the roster is one of the more talented in the National Football League, it has the fatal flaw of implosion at the wrong time. Cincinnati has always had a penchant for lacking fundamentals and guile, making the wrong move at the absolute wrong time.
In 13 years as the head coach in Cincinnati, Marvin Lewis has guided the Bengals to the playoffs on seven occasions. He has never advanced to the Divisional round, despite being at home four of those times.
Maybe it is time for owner Mike Brown to make a switch at the head of the class. Remove Lewis and go after a top-flight coach such as Mike Holmgren of Tom Coughlin. Perhaps you trade away Burfict, who for all his talent can’t seem to figure out how to play the game with drawing fines and flags on a weekly basis. It remains unclear what, if anything, the Bengals will do about their meltdown, but something needs to change.
After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting a different result.
