If there is one truism I’ve learned and repeatedly said about the Cincinnati Bengals lo these many years, it’s that the team and high expectations do not mix well. I have been proven correct in this often through the decades, but I honestly believed that with Joe Burrow under center the Stripes had become immune to that kind of cynical outlook.
Alas, this Season of Suffering has proven the shibboleth true yet again in spite of Burrow’s brilliance. Sunday night’s soul-eating 34-27 defeat in L.A. to the Chargers was yet another inexplicable loss in a season full of endgame catastrophe.
I simply don’t have the space (or the strength) to catalogue all that took place in that now-hated edifice in Inglewood. I used to love this song but now I can’t even listen to it, because the line “Inglewood, Inglewood, always up to no good” now seems like a direct shot at Bengals Nation. All I know is if Tupac is indeed still alive, he better not cross my path.…
The Chargers game featured yet another tragicomic defensive performance, more red zone failures on D, another head-scratching special teams effort—another game larded with “if only” moments. My man Cameron Taylor-Britt somehow has gotten even more perplexed in the secondary. Evan “10-Time All-Pro No More” MacPherson somehow has forgotten the rule is that the ball has to go between the uprights for points to be allotted, not around them. Even Burrow missed yet again in the latter stages when just one play could rescue his team and get a much-needed win. The man I dubbed “Atlas” for carrying the weight of the franchise on his shoulders has developed a hernia.
That this monument to self-inflicted frustration took place against the Chargers, heretofore the league’s best marksmen when it comes to shooting themselves in the foot, is just another ironic component to this season-long trip to Hades.
So despite awesome offensive numbers that under almost every circumstance translate into a playoff berth, Cincinnati is now 4-7 and virtually eliminated, despite still, amazingly enough, having scored more points than they’ve allowed (by one). Somehow they are 1-6 in one-score games, and the one win is janky thanks to a garbage time TD and two-point conversion by Cleveland. They continue to find new ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on the regular. If there is a documentary film ever made about this edition of the team, it will be called Losing Time. This from a team that made its bones by winning close games in pivotal situations.
Technically, the Bengals are still alive. Sure, part of me thinks about the 2016 Packers, who were 4-6 with a high-flying offense led by a not-yet-cooked Aaron Rodgers and a rueful defense and then won six straight and two more playoff games by scoring baskets of points and getting just enough D to make the NFC title game. Is Burrow capable of the same? Sure he is. Would 10-7 be good enough for the last playoff spot? Probably.
But the far more likely outcome is more heartache, the locker room imploding, and jobs being lost at the end of the season. There is a ways to go before that, however. So the question for the day is this: As of right now, are the 2024 Bengals the single most disappointing/frustrating team in franchise history?
Obviously, there is no single right answer. It depends on your terms. I throw out the successful squads that fell agonizingly short, such as the Super Bowl and AFC title teams (though I think about them every day). I likewise toss out the crap teams with little to no chance coming into the season—many had ceilings of 7-9 or so, hard to get too worked up about them specifically (those years were more frustrating from an organizational standpoint, and they usually lasted over multiple seasons). There were several teams that got jobbed or were good but unfortunately happened to play in an era with few playoff slots available. Those are more frustrating in retrospect, but we all knew the terms at the time.
My previous answer to the “disappointment” question would have come down to the 2005 and 2015 teams, even the 2023 version—outfits perfectly capable of winning it all but undone by injury to quarterbacks at terrible times (Joey B. last year, Carson Palmer, and even Andy Dalton), forcing us to endure Jon Kitna and A.J. McCarron at the helm of otherwise excellent teams in critical games. But as maddening as those are, injuries are part of the sport; the number of excellent, championship-worthy squads that fell short because of ouchies to key players is legion.
This season, however, is a special torture: The Bengals feature an All-Pro QB/WR combo and an excellent, consistent offense that’s remained mostly healthy; there are an unprecedented number of playoff slots on offer; and when the team has failed it’s generally been in the most painful ways imaginable. Worse, the current Bengals are comprised of players that have, for the most part, succeeded in the past.
This season’s failure can’t be pinned on player departure or a rash of injuries or a new system. Nothing is new, except for so many reliable elements turning unreliable seemingly out of nowhere and for no good reason. And with Burrow and presumably Chase’s contracts due to inhale a far larger percentage of the cap starting next year, 2024 was always going to be a “The Time Is Now” season.
Because of that, because Burrow’s play is perhaps the best of any Cincinnati QB in history through 11 games and has been so thoroughly wasted, and because expectations were so high to begin with, I hereby nominate 2024 as the most galling thus far in franchise history. Seconded! (Bangs gavel.)
The worst part of it all, I suppose, is that the vibes were bad all summer. Before the season opener, I wrote a sadly prophetic column about how the team had more questions than answers—and yet this season has still wildly exceeded my pessimism. I didn’t think that was even possible after all my time rooting for this damn team.
In that sense, then, the Bengals’ bye week comes at a good time, for the sad reason that we just can’t take another brutal body blow without some recovery time. Ordinarily it’s best to play quickly after a horrible loss to cleanse the palate. But after so many accumulated kicks to the groin I can use an extra week on the injured list to recuperate, especially with the hated Steelers next up on the schedule.
Alas, that means regardless of what happens against Pittsburgh we’re looking at almost an entire month between victories—Cincinnati clubbed the Raiders way back on November 3, and the Steelers game is on December 1. Lose to the Black and Gold, and it will be eight more days of pain until the Stripes get a chance to win again a Monday Night Football encounter in Dallas. There is no flexing out of that one, because a) it’s the Cowboys and b) there is a special alternative broadcast featuring The Simpsons scheduled for that game, so we are stuck in prime time.
Given the way this season has gone, even Bart Simpson feels pity for the Bengals. Perhaps this is the only way to sum up the 2024 campaign.
Robert Weintraub heads up Bengals coverage for Cincinnati Magazine and has written for The New York Times, Grantland, Slate, and Deadspin. Follow him on Twitter at @robwein. Listen to him on Mo Egger’s show on 1530AM every Thursday at 5:20 p.m.
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