For the second season in a row, the Bengals' season and playoff hopes skidded to a halt after a crushing defeat at the hands of the division arch rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now the Cincinnati faithful has a long offseason to endure before their beloved men in stripes return to the field. Before that can happen Marvin Lewis and his staff have a lot of decisions to make concerning several areas of the team in order for them to be playing in Arizona in February. In the coming months I will preview those offseason decisions with several different posts concerning free agency, the draft, training camp, and other events as they occur.
First and foremost what needs to happen in the offseason is for every Bengal player to stay out of trouble. It hurts the team in two ways: suspensions handed down by the league keep key players off the field during times of need and it brings a lot of negative press towards the franchise. The only thing I heard about the Bengals on ESPN's program, "Pardon the Interruption," was critcism about the arrests. Personally, I think that the Bengals can't afford to lose their positive national image following the productive 2005 season. Their image is hanging in the balance right now and if these problems don't cease soon, Cincinnati could find itself in the NFL equivalent of Siberia. That means no Prime-time games, no spots on ESPN or NFL network breaking down the offense, no national commercials featuring Bengal players. No one wants to watch a team of criminals and it would be a shame for a team as talented as this to fall into obscurity.
Next Post: The Early Draft Preview
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