The Detriot Lions and The Cincinnati Bengals Have Been Mediocre Forever!

How the Lions & the Bengals were built in the last ten years?

  If you have a franchise quarterback, then your team is set for regular season success and to win multiple playoff games for five to ten years. Both the Detriot Lions and Cincinnati Bengals have franchise quarterbacks. The Lions have Mattew Stafford, who they drafted number one overall in the 2009 draft. The Bengals have Andy Dalton, who they drafted in the second round of the loaded 2011 draft. Besides having quarterbacks, both teams have and had talent around their signal callers in the last six to seven years. Mattew Stafford had an all-time talented receiver in Calvin Johnson to throw the ball too, while Andy Dalton has AJ Green to throw passes to since the day he became the team's starting quarterback. Both teams have had solid running backs, with a decent O-line. The two teams have also had defenses with star players. Lions have had players like Ndamukong Suh, Ezekiel Ansah, Darius Slay, Glover Quinn, DeAndre Levy, and more. Bengals have stud players on defense like Geno Atkins, Carlos Dunlap, Michael Johnson, George Iloka, Vontaz Burfict, and more. With so much talent on both sides of the ball, both teams have yet to win a single playoff game with their franchise quarterbacks.

What is wrong with the Lions?

  The last time the Detriot Lions won a title was in 1957, which was before the Super Bowl era. The last time they won a playoff game was in 1991 in the divisional round against the Dallas Cowboys before the Cowboys went onto win three Super Bowls in four years. Eighteen years later, Detriot Lions started to believe that they were going to end their playoff drought by drafting Mattew Stafford with the number one overall pick. Mattew Stafford has a great arm, big body, can make all the throws, could scramble out of the pocket, and put up monster numbers in the game. Yet in nine years, Mattew Stafford has led his Lions to a record of 60-65 and to three playoff trips. He has a record of 0-3 in those three playoff games. Two of those losses were by at least three scores. So Stafford doesn't have the clutch gene? Is he not made up of the right stuff? To not win a playoff game with such a quarterback and with all the talent on the roster, is just a shame. We can't just blame on Stafford for the Detriot Lions not winning a single playoff game, because the Lions have been awful since 1992.

  At least with Stafford, they have been a bit respectful. The blame has to go to coaching and ownership/management. It is the coaches job to push the players harder. To have the players find their true potential. To have the players own up to their mistakes. It is the coaches job to build on the passion of the player. However, it is the management and the owner's job to build the standard of winning. It is their job to expect results from the coaches and the players. If the general manager and the owner don't care about competing for and winning championships, then how could we expect the players to play with all their heart and soul, and the coaches to do everything possible to have their players perform at their highest level? Since the Lions won their last playoff game, they have had seven coaches to earn playoff success. Now they are on their eighth coach with Matt Patricia. Since 1991, they have had several quarterbacks start for them and several roster changes. Yet no playoff win! How many owners have been in charge of the Lions since 1991? Well technically only one, as the team has been owned by the same family since 1963. William Clay Ford Sr. was in charge from 1963-2014, then after his death, his wife (Martha Firestone Ford) took over as the chairwoman of the franchise.

 

So it is up to Miss Ford to do something bold to change the fortune of her franchise. She needs to know the football fans in Detriot have been dying for playoff success. They are tired of the Green Bay Packers dominating them forever. Miss Ford needs to hold herself and everyone accountable for what goes wrong with the Lions from now on. The success of the Detriot Lions can't be based on the revenue generated by the tickets and the TV deals. If Philadelphia Eagles could win a Super Bowl with a great roster, so could the Detriot Lions. If the Seattle Seahawks could win a Super Bowl and have decent playoff success afterward, then so could the Detriot Lions with Mattew Stafford. The Detriot Lions are starting fresh with Matt Patricia and his coaching staff. The new atmosphere and culture should focus on succeeding in the playoffs!

What about the Bengals?

  We could say that the Cinncinati Bengals haven't been as bad as the Detriot Lions in the last fifteen years. Unlike the Detriot Lions, the Bengals were able to win some division titles in the last fifteen years as they won four of them. At least they didn't go winless for the whole season like the Lions did in 2008. At least, they have had a stretch of going into the playoffs for five straight years from 2011-2015. The Bengals have had two good quarterbacks play for them since 2003. First, they had Carson Palmer from 2003-2011, and then they had Andy Dalton from 2011-present. However, just like the Lions, they haven't won a playoff game since 1990. Their last playoff win came against the Houston Oilers, who are now the Tennesse Titans. Going to the playoffs for five straight years is an amazing accomplishment as it is very hard to do in a league which, deals with a lot of injuries and roster changes every year. However, to be bounced out in the first-round of the playoffs in each of those five years means that the team was never prepared to have success in the playoffs. In those five years, the Bengals dealt with four teams, and all four of those teams beat them. Two of them beat the Bengals at Cincinnati. Those four teams knew how to win a playoff game, but the Bengals didn't. Isn't that super annoying for the Bengals' fans?

 

Everybody knows why the Bengals can't win a playoff game and won't be winning another one any time soon. It is because of their head coach Marvin Lewis and because of the loyalty to him, from the owner and the management of the Cincinnati Bengals! Granted, the Bengals hadn't won a playoff game even before Marvin Lewis got the head coaching job, but he has been the head coach of the team for the past fifteen years now. Just think about it. Lewis has been the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals for fifteen years and never won a playoff game. How is that possible? How does he still get to coach the Bengals? Oh, by the way, he signed a contract extension with the Bengals on January 2nd, 2018, just two days after the 2017 regular season had concluded, and his team had missed the playoffs for the second straight year. In the words of Stephen A Smith, the Cincinnati Bengals' ownership doesn't care about what the fans think and care about. All they know is that they are making money. Since Marvin Lewis became the head coach, two teams from the Bengals' (AFC North) division have won Super Bowls. Pittsburgh Steelers have two Super Bowls and the Baltimore Ravens have won one. Marvin Lewis is the only coach in the NFL to keep a head coaching job after going 0-7 in seven playoff appearances. The Bengals could only win in the playoffs once they get rid of Marvin Lewis, but to do that, someone needs to protest against the owner of the Cinncinati Bengals.

  No matter what Marvin Lewis does and how bad he does it, the Bengals' owner Mike Brown who also happens to be the general manager and the president of the team, will keep Lewis as his head coach until he goes to his grave. Mike Brown is the son of one of the best head coaches of all-time, Paul Brown. I am pretty sure if Paul Brown was still alive, Marvin Lewis would have been out of Cincinnati after the 2015-2016 season. In the wild-card round of that season, the Bengals managed to blow a lead against their divisional rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers, with just 1:36 left in the game and with the football in their possession. The Bengals had a chance to win their first playoff-game since 1990, but they failed to win it since they weren't disciplined enough. Paul Brown during his time as the head coach of the Browns and the Bengals focused a lot on discipline. Somebody needs to find a way to convince Mike Brown that the Bengals can't win with Marvin Lewis as the head coach. If he doesn't care about winning, then the fans of the Bengals need to stop going to the football games. Maybe going 0-16 with selling tickets in the regular-season could change Mike Brown's thinking!

What to expect from the Lions and the Bengals in the 2018 season?

  The draft is going to take place in less than twenty-four hours. Then we have training camp and pre-season to take place. So, we have a lot of time until the start of the 2018 season. However, I don't see the Detriot Lions and the Cincinnati Bengals making game-changing moves to win a playoff game in the upcoming season. Plus, neither the Lions or the Bengals are the best team in their division. The Lions, in my opinion, are the third best team in their division. The Bengals talent wise are the second best team in their division, but if we consider coaching and overall chemistry, the Bengals could very well be the worst team in their division. I expect the Cleveland Browns to do better than the Cincinnati Bengals this year. I have the Bengals winning six games minimum and eight games at max. I have the Lions winning seven games at the least and nine at max. Could the two teams surprise us and get into the playoffs? Certainly, they can as anything could happen in the NFL. Could they both finish with two to three wins? Given their strange history, that could also happen!