Cincinnati Bengals Defense is a DISASTER: Who’s to Blame?

Cincinnati Bengals Defense is a DISASTER: Who’s to Blame?

Many Bengals fans are witnessing the worst defense they have ever seen, the Bengals field. Who’s to blame? Whose fault is this? Let’s break it down. You are Locked On Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Locked On Bengals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. I’m Jake Liscoco. He is James Rain and we’ve been covering the Cincinnati Bengals here on Locked on Bengals since 2016 and been following and covering the Cincinnati Bengals much longer than that. And today that is more relevant than ever because we’re going to be talking about a historically bad Bengals defense, how they got here, and what needs to change. There’s there’s going to be several bits of Bengals history that are going to come up in this episode of Locked on Bengals as we get through the blame game as the Bengals defense is dooming yet another season and somehow is worse so far than what we saw from this unit in 2024. And doing what they did against the Jets means there’s no signs of it getting better because like we said in yesterday’s episode, that Jets defense offense one of the worst, if not the worst in the NFL coming in to the game. Welcome back to the Everdayers who caught that postgame show. Welcome back to everyone who makes Locked on Bengals your first listen. Like I said, we’re diving into the blame game today in an episode brought to you by FanDuel, where new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. And James, as we look at this defense and consider the role of Duke Tobin, of Zack Taylor, of Al Golden, of Lua Rumo, I I think we start with the top down. That’s where it is for me. If we’re thinking about how we got to this point, the series of mistakes, where does this start for you? Oh, I mean, it goes way back, right? I mean, you could you could take this back to Jesse Bates, you know, if you want to and and go that route and say, “Well, you paid Logan Mosen and Germaine Pratt.” You could have just taken that money and paid Jesse Bates and you’d be much better off for it, right? So, we can go wherever. Uh, but if I had to to narrow it down to like present and like why the 2025 Bengals defense stinks and why I’m not sure. I really not sure if they’re attacking Jake tackling Jake Loco in open space. I’m not sure, man. Like, I I think that’s a question at this point. When I saw Demetrius Knight, I went back and watched him try to to contain Justin Fields. And I get it. Justin Fields is athletic and all looking like looking like he’s got two cinder blocks tied to his feet and three backpacks strapped to his back. I mean, it’s just ridiculously bad angle taking, which you were all over during our our post game. But this 2025 Bengals defense, it everyone is to blame to start. Everybody. and and where the front office is to blame to from the jump. And we said this back in March. This is not hindsight. I think that’s what’s so frustrating about where they’re at right now considering where they could be. They should be four and four and a half game back behind the Steelers. We should be talking about renewed life and optimism and who knows what this 2025 Bengals team could be. and instead because their defense is so bad, and by so bad, I mean so so so bad that they’re last in points given up, last in yards allowed, uh multiple other categories in the NFL where they rank last or close to it. It’s it’s so bad one because the front office seemingly decided, oh, we’re going to get Jamar and T done during free agency and not focus on actually adding to our team, adding to our roster. And like that’s where it started. That’s where after you bring in the new defensive coordinator, after uh you make the decision that you needed to move on from the Germaine Prattz of the world, and even though he was still on the roster, we all knew that he was gone. A and it was, okay, well, what are you doing to add? And it’s the same guys. Everybody is the same. Like, everyone is the same unless you’re a rookie or TJ Sllayton. Like, that is unbelievable. And so, that’s where this starts. That’s where the blame is. And I think that’s Duke Tobin for sure, but that’s above him. Hey, open up your purse strings a little damn bit because season ticket prices have gone up time and time and time again in the Joe Burrow era. You’re adding new club suites and all these things and you’re generating more money than ever. Like, yeah, of course you needed to pay Jamar and T. Did you have to do it that week when you could focus on adding to the defense and giving your new defensive coordinator some real dudes? That’s where this failure really starts from a personnel standpoint. when you when you hone it down to this calendar year, we could go back farther, but that that’s my focus. That’s where the problems began. It goes back farther than this year, though, right? It goes back to their first opportunity to extend Jamar Chase, their first opportunity to extend T. Higgins and the amount of money they could save by beating other teams and other receivers to the market for market resetting contracts. and instead those numbers continued to go up. And yeah, you credit the Bengals for eventually getting those deals done. They had to. We we talked about that. But they cost themselves money in the process. And we’ve talked about that over the years as well. Trying to save a dollar end up costing themselves $10 or $100 or whatever the the analogy is that we’ve used in the past because they’re they’re trying to negotiate so hard. They’re trying to win these negotiations. are not willing to do guaranteed money and and all these things that other modern NFL franchises are doing. But I think another reason we have to go further back is because you’re talking about how bad this defense is talking about their ranks in the NFL this year. How about in the last 25 years for a lot of Bengals fans? For me, that’s about as long as I’ve been paying attention to the Bengals. This goes back to the beginning of the Marvin Lewis era. If you go back to TW 2000, in the last 25 years, this Bengals defense is eighth worst out of like 800 defenses. Eighth worst in EPA per play. There’s a lot of season left that these numbers could change, but they’re eighth worst in EPA per play after playing the worst offense in the NFL in the New York Jets and looking pathetic in doing so. They’re third worst since 2000 in points allowed per game. 13th worst since 2000. Again, out of like 800 defenses over the years, in yards per play, 11th worst in yards allowed per game. No matter which way you cut this, this is the worst Bengals defense that we’ve seen since Marvin Lewis took over the team. There’s one year where they allowed more yards per game, and that was Marvin’s last year. But in all these other categories, the worst this defense has been in modern history, like post lost 90s, this is the worst we’ve seen from a defense. So like when I say we have to go back further than just this off seasonason when they could have done things, you’re right. They could have done things in a different way to build this defense to give Al Golden a little bit more to work with. And the decision to hire Alen is going to be under scrutiny for the rest of this year is assuming he’s still the coach. He is now surviving. If he survives this week, he’s surviving things that Terrell Austin didn’t survive in the Marvin Lewis era. The one of the only inseason coordinator firings in in recent Bengals history. He’s not going to be fired today. Just I I’ll end that. like he’s he’s scheduled to talk we’re recording this before he is but he’s scheduled to talk on Monday and like that’s so I not not that I thought that was going to happen but that it’s not going to happen which isn’t what I’m suggesting either but no you say if just in case something unforeseen happens as we record this and and it stands the test of time like this stays on the internet after other events have happened and so giving context is good you’re right the point is is that this is a historically bad unit that had opportunities to make other moves in the off season to give themselves a little bit more of a fighting chance. That has a front office that waited until the last second on key contracts that restricted their ability to spend on that side of the ball as you point out that seemed to be unable to multitask in free agency this off seasonason. And then you throw in the draft and and some of the draft decisions over the last few years and all the picks spent in the top 100 over the last several drafts on the defensive side of the ball and the way that those guys haven’t come together to produce a defense that works and and then you get to the point that we’re at this year. So you do need to go back more than just this year. Well, for sure. No doubt. No doubt. Because Jesse Bait should be a Bengal. DJ Reer should be a Bengal. that alone, like if you just put those guys in, that matters. They matter. It feels different. And yet here we are. But you’re right, you bring up a good point with the draft. And I I think the the good to certainly great teams, the true contending teams know how to marry free agency in the draft. And the Bengals talk like they do, know how to marry them. In reality, these two couldn’t be far more disconnected. what they did in the draft versus what they did in free agency or what they didn’t do in free agency. So, I I I want to to share that as we continue to unravel this because it isn’t it isn’t just one person. It starts with the front office. They need more talent on defense and they didn’t put themselves in position to get it uh by the decisions they made. We’ll continue the conversation coming up next. I’m Cody Ro from Lockdown Broncos and this episode is brought to you by Pelaton. Pelaton is shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Pelaton crossraining tread plus powered by Pelaton IQ. This is Pelaton’s most advanced equipment yet, giving you realtime guidance and endless ways to move. Whether you’re running, lifting, or you’re crossraining with your favorite instructors like Alex Tusant. It’s training reimagined to make your workout more personal. Pelaton is built for breakthroughs with features that help you plan, stay motivated, and hit peak performance. You can let yourself run, lift, flex, and go while Pelaton handles all the rest. Plus, Pelaton IQ provides real time strength coaching, tracking your progress and suggesting weights that challenge you so you can get stronger. Plus, the new movement tracking camera. It counts your reps and corrects your form in real time, making sure every rep is safer and smarter. So, let yourself run, lift, flex, push, and go. Explore the new Pelaton crossraining tread plus at onepliton.com. Jake, good teams, especially teams trying to rebuild a unit on the fly with a new coach and really a head coach trying to save himself. And I think that’s what you do when you make the moves that they made with Luorumo and Frank Pollock and some of the other coaches that are no longer in the building. You want to back that up with adding talent and the Bengals, they went and got TJ Sllayton, which was a very big need, having a true nose tackle. Fine. But then they bring back BJ Hill. And you look at this defense, and I’m just going to read names. How many new names do you hear here? Joseph OSI, TJ. Sllayton, BJ Hill, Cam Taylor Britt, Jordan Battle, Gino Stone, DJ Turner, Dax Hill. All the same guys. Miles Murphy, Chris Jenkins, Trey Hendrickson, obviously all the same guys. Logan Wilson. And and so the the one is TJ Sllayton, the one veteran, TJ Sllayton. So then you get to the draft and with your first pick, you take a guy who’s considered a project, not a instant plugandplay, going to make a ton of impact right away type of guy. And I think we’ve seen that so far with Shamar Stewart. Dealt with the ankle. It’s tough, but clearly he’s trying to to feel out his NFL life. Then you take a a linebacker with limited experience in round two and you think he’s going to be an instant impact guy or you’re you’re banking on him and you give him the starting job from the jump in Demetrius Knight Jr. And so who did you pass on? Well, Jiad Campbell was considered a plug-and-play guy, a defensive playmaker, uh a potential game changer, someone that you could build around defensively. And I don’t know what their medical set on him. All I know is is we talked about him plenty and he was available in round one. at round two. We’ve talked about Tate Radjatan. He was available in round two. Like the instant impact, by the way, he’s a really, really good. He’s like 12th in run blocking according to PFF. He’s been a really good run blocker as a rookie. You needed instant impact players. And it didn’t have to be those guys. But with the way your free agency went, you needed guys that would be plug-and-play impact playmakers. And their draft strategy did not align with that. And I think that’s where it is. is like if you’re going to do one thing in free agency, sit on your hands, well then you better get instant impact. And if you’re going to be aggressive in free agency, well then yeah, you can take some swings on some developmental guys that don’t have to play right away. All of their rookies have to play right away. And none of them really I mean you could say Dylan Fairchild, I guess, to a degree, but none of them are truly delivering the the way you would want a starter to deliver on defense especially. Well, and part of that is just like you said, if you go into the draft and you need these guys to be instant impact, that’s putting yourself in a hard place in the first place. Rookies in the NFL have a learning curve at just about every position. And the positions where they are relying on guys to start, Shamar Stewart, Demetrius, Dylan Fairchild, Barrett Carter, Jaylen Rivers, all starting or in significant roles if if Jamar Stewart isn’t technically out there for the first half of the game. Those are positions where it’s hard to get that instant impact. It’s hard to hit the ground running at those spots and and sometimes you see guys do it. Carson Swessinger in Cleveland’s doing it. Jod Campbell’s doing it at linebacker there. Guys doing it. Tate Ratlage, you you referenced him. I think Dylan Fairchild’s been okay and and has had plenty of nice moments, but he’s a rookie. Looks like a rookie, right? But it it goes beyond this year as you’re naming the guys currently playing significant snaps on this Bengals defense. there was a a changeover at some point where the Bengals realized, you know, after drafting Joe Burrow, T. Higgins, Jamar Chase that, hey, we need to probably get younger on on defense and cheaper and we need to make sure we have guys performing on rookie deals. And then they spend how many consecutive picks on the defensive side of the ball? Dax Hill, Cam Taylor, Brit, Zack Carter, Miles Murphy, DJ Turner, Jordan Battle. So, six straight picks in 22 and 23 in the top 100 on defensive players. Zack Carter no longer on the team. Cam Taylor Britt on and off the bench this year. Miles Murphy hasn’t developed. DJ Turner, credit them for that one. He’s had a good year this year. Jordan Battle still riding a roller coaster. Dax Hill was asked to play three different positions in the last four years. Yep. didn’t get on the field in that first year after being their first round pick, which is what led us to talking about getting first round players that can get onto the field as rookies. So, Dax Hill has had a a up and down developmental track and this year has had his struggles despite looking like an NFL level athlete. Looks like he can play in the NFL compared to some of these other guys. And Zack Carter not on the team. I don’t know if I already said that much. So, that’s six straight picks on the defensive side of the ball. You got one guy that you feel particularly good about and a second that you feel reasonable about. You go to 2024, they spend a second round pick on Chris Jenkins, a third round pick on McKinley Jackson. McKinley Jackson can’t get active this year. Chris Jenkins has not taken a step as a pass rusher. More top 100 picks on the defensive side of the ball. We’re up to eight in the last uh four years on a defense that hasn’t seen development. You add to that this year the Shamar Stewart, Demetrius Knight, you’re up to 10 picks in the top 100 in the last four years. Barrett Carter at 119 in 2025. And the track record of drafting defensive players in the last four years for this team, just absolutely feudal. You can go back a little bit further than that if you want. Joseph Osai still on the team from 2021. Uh had a lot of hopes for him throughout that rookie contract. had some injuries that maybe hampered his development, but never really took that next step. Cam Sample was a fine player on that rookie contract, got hurt. Tyler Shelvin didn’t make it very long on the team. H they haven’t been able to find any cornerstone pieces on the defensive side of the ball in the draft almost at all in the draft at any position but especially on the defensive side of the ball where there are all these players that they’ve tried to make future cornerstones that haven’t developed haven’t worked out. So whether that is talent identification and acquisition in the draft, whether that’s development plan, whether that’s a chasm between the front office and the defensive staff, whatever the reason is, I I don’t see how you separate this from from Duke Tobin. We’ve talked about ownership’s role in it, but the the drafting has certainly not been good enough from this team over the last four years, which leaves you in such a talent deficit, development deficit on that side of the ball. And here’s what sucks is, and Duke deserves blame. I’m not defending Duke, but I don’t know whose guy is who. Like, and you know it as well as I do that draftwise on draft day or when they’re having those draft debates, like it isn’t it doesn’t just go, “All right, well, Duke, make the decision.” Like, these coaches have input. Like, I know specific players that this coach really loved and that that was it. So, you go get them. And and that’s that’s what’s really tough is like the whole process is you have to question it top to bottom because really what what is the last guy like Amarius Mims like I I get it but like last dude like the Jamar Su you couldn’t get it wrong. They went with Jamar and they nailed it. Burrow really straightforward really easy. T falls into their lap. I think that was lucky that he fell there. But like you look at it and and it’s really since 2020 after the first round on offense and since 2021 period on defense it’s been brutal. Like can you imagine saying we’re going to take Christian or pass on Christian Barmore for Jackson Carman because that’s what the Bengals were going to do if they couldn’t trade down. They would have just taken Jackson Carman like that. There’s there’s no planet where that’s acceptable in my mind. Just to fast forward to now, there’s no planet where taking Demetrius Knight with the 49th overall pick should have been acceptable. None. And I I don’t care. I don’t care how much they liked him or how much they studied him and did all those things. Like when I found out that they were making that pick and it was before the pick was made, I started to write the article and I was like, what the are they doing? Like if if linebacker is such a need that you feel this way, go get one. Go pay for one. Go pay for a proven one and not a guy who’s really searching right now. It’s just it’s so frustrating because you could see this coming from a mile away and no one needed them to be good. You just needed to be good enough to not let the Jets run the ball in the fourth quarter down 14 and they’re not good enough to do that which is unbelievably bad. Yeah. And maybe those guys eventually work out, right? But uh recent we can’t write you need to win now. You’re supposed to be in win now mode. Yeah. No doubt. But just throwing that out there like may maybe some of these guys eventually develop. The other part of this is they haven’t developed anyone really. So you know how much hope can you really have? We’ll continue the conversation. I want to get into why it’s difficult to discuss the idea of replacing Duke Tobin or adjusting his role in any way. We don’t really have a precedent for that in the Bengals entire history. And we obviously have to get to Zack Taylor as well. Coming up next, let’s be real. Making excuses doesn’t solve anything. The Bengals know that better than anyone right now. We’ve all heard those excuses before. It’s just stress. I’m tired. It happens to everyone sometimes. But when it comes to performance, sometimes your body just needs a little extra support. And that’s where Rouette comes in. rouette.com offers fast acting doctor prescribed treatments for ED designed to help you stop making excuses and start making moves. Rouette makes it easy to get started. 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A lot of people, James, have talked over the years about, you know, fire Duke Tobin and those calls this year more than ever, I think, are reaching a peak volume. Here’s the issue with that conversation. The idea of any change to to Duke’s role with the Cincinnati Bengals is actually an unprecedented thing. So when we try to talk about what would it take for the Bengals to think about Duke Tobin’s role, we we don’t really have an answer. The history of the Bengals general manager job or de facto general manager job is Paul Brown, Mike Brown, Duke Tobin. Yeah, Duke Tobin hired in 1999 to be the player director of player personnel. Before him, it was just Mike Brown for the 90s. before him, it was Paul Brown from the the inception of the team until 1990. So, while you can look at their recent draft history that we just talked about or look at the way that they’ve put the team together and some of that goes to ownership, right? the way that they’re structuring contracts or willing to structure contracts or how much money they’re willing to spend. You can you can look at where they’ve gotten on defense to be literally one of the worst defenses we have seen from the Bengals in the last 25 years. The worst defense of the last 25 years. The worst defense of the Duke Tobin era. And you can point to all of that and the offense suddenly working under Joe Flacco not mattering just like last year, right? This this this week feels so much like all those games last year. And despite all of that, you can say, well, we don’t know if if the Bengals ownership is thinking about Duke Tobin’s job at all, if they’re thinking about their their player personnel department at all. They’re talking about changing any of their processes or expanding or taking the coaches out of that process. We have no idea what it would take for them to consider those changes because they’ve never done it. But you would think that two years of this and it getting worse would start to push them in that direction. But again, we we just have no precedent to know what their threshold is for this kind of dysfunction on that side of the ball or any side of the ball. Yeah, it’s I don’t think they’re thinking that, but I don’t know that. I don’t think they’re thinking that. I think I think they told you that their their picks are better than they think or that they they were performing and so they go get a new coach in here and Zach’s like, “Oh, well, this is going to be it.” And so I don’t think it’s fall guy necessarily because I think the coaches do have some some impact here, but I think the hot seat would be Zach and it would start from there because now they’re paying Al Golden for three years and all these other assistants for, you know, two plus years and and Zach has a year left on his day after this year. Like that’s that’s where the microscope is. Now, I will say this, this off season, we were really loud. And by we, I don’t mean just you and me. I mean, the entire Bengals community was really loud about what the hell are they doing in the draft? And we saw the the path with Shamar Stewart and ahead of time and I I’ve never really seen a fan base react the way they did after Shamar gets picked like on the elevator guy says anybody but Shamar Stewart two hours before they take Shamar Stewart. Like that’s just wild. Like I’ve never experienced that. And yet that’s that’s how the fan base was looking at it. But then round two, you know, Demetrius Knight, like the Bengals are very aware of how everybody was talking about that pick. It wasn’t just me going to everyone in the media. Like media members that are credentialed like in that room hate when it gets brought up because I lose it every time because I still can’t believe it. I still can’t believe that they went with that. But my point here is you could kind of read between the lines and notice that people were putting a a bit more on Duke and saying, “Ah, well, you know, Duke is is running it. Duke is this and Duke is.” And so what I wonder that’s why Duke gets paid to make those hard decisions. Those were that was a quote that we heard so much, I think. And so that that is where I wonder has ownership and it’s just really hard to gauge because they’ve done they’ve done so many things differently. Trading for Joe Flacco is something they would like sounds ridiculous on on many levels to to them on paper based on their history and yet they did it. And and there’s examples of that. Like I just I don’t want to fully dismiss it because I do think that one like last year I think Zack Taylor’s seat was much hotter than people realized especially after that Steelers game and it wasn’t just oh well Al Lou Lou and like I I do think it was hotter then but is there is there enough now where there was the the Duke not fingerpointing but that hey Duke makes those calls picks a linebacker that’s his age like does that I’m I’m so mean. I’m so mean. Uh, who wins in a fort? All right, I’ll stop. But I I just I wonder if that changes the conversation at least a little bit because of the talk after the draft that really did seem unique and it kind of gets lost in the shuffle, but you and I certainly behind the scenes made note of it and now I think it’s worth bringing up because it it did feel like that there was some real debates in that draft room and it was defaulted to a certain way and it’s like, “Hey, not my pick. Not my pick.” And they didn’t come out and say that. I’m not saying that on record, off record. It’s not like someone called me and said threw Duke under the bus. That’s not what I’m saying. But on record, it just it felt like he was brought up uh more than than we’re used to hearing. That’s all. And then there are new titles for a bunch of guys this offseason. Like a little bit of that restructuring for for some of the some of the lieutenants if if Duke is a the general, some of the some of the top lieutenants getting different roles, assistant GM roles, etc., etc. Um, it’s it’s just, you know, we’ll see how it plays out. The the challenging thing to me is just like people ask these questions all the time, right? Hey, do you think they’re thinking about Duke? And it’s just so hard to answer those questions because there’s, like I said, literally no precedent for the Bengals to make a change, a real significant change at that spot. It’s been over 25 years. Yeah. Uh the last thing that we have to get to here, James, and maybe this bleeds into the next couple of weeks, certainly the rest of the season, is is Zack Taylor’s role in all of this, is Al Golden was was Zack Taylor’s guy, and we talked about it when they fired the coordinators. Usually when that happens, it’s kind of the last chance for the head coach. The thing that makes it tricky is again since they traded for Joe Flacco, the Bengals are fifth in yards per game, ninth in yards per play, third in rushing yards per play, fourth in first downs per game, second in total EPA, third in EPA per play, fourth in points per game, and that features games against the Jets and the Steelers, two of the worst defenses in the NFL. But the offense, since they got Zack Taylor functional quarterback, and Joe Flacco before the Bengals traded for him, was not seen as a functional quarterback in Cleveland. Yeah. uh with Jake Browning, this offense was just defunct. But suddenly they have one of the better rushing games in the NFL. Some of that a product of the opponents they face. But the offense has has largely done his job for the last couple of weeks at least against Green Bay. It took a little bit of time for them to get going. Second half was pretty good for the offense. But Zach is the head coach, not the offensive coordinator. Delegates a lot of those defensive responsibilities, but that defense ultimately traces back to Zack as well. And so do the coaching hires and all the things that land you in the spot. Which is why at the beginning when I was like, “Where does it start for you?” And you said, “It’s everyone.” You’re right. It is everyone. And that includes Zach. Yep. And Zach needed to get this defensive coordinator higher, right? Zack needed to win like, let’s just say Zach wanted, let’s just say Zach wanted Jiad Campbell 17th overall. and and I I don’t think that’s the but let’s just say well win the argument like if that’s what it comes down to and you feel like you need a real playmaker on defense and you don’t have one and they weren’t willing to get you one in free agency like my man you you got to win the argument somehow you got to feel good about and and by the way I don’t think that was the case I think that the staff was in on on Shamar as well and Shamar may end up being really good by the way I think he’s again it’s just tough to put these guys in the the win now mindset that they’re supposed to be in as rookies. And so, yeah, Zack, if Zack needs to be on defense this week to fix the defense, well, then that’s where he needs to be. Like, it’s that simple. Like, you can’t just be offense and then Al Golden is the the defensive head coach. Like, yeah, I get it. And that’s basically how it was with Lou. And I think that was the plan with Al, but you’re the head coach. And that’s what I said last year when we were talking about ah well Lou should they make these changes and I was like well it can’t start with there like you need to reassess Zack and make sure that he’s the right guy and go from there. And that’s where I think people are with Duke. It’s like it can’t start with Zack. It needs to start with Duke. And that’s fine. But regardless is Zack the guy regardless of what Joe Burrow thinks that conversation is certainly going to be had behind the scenes. especially if they they fall to three and six. I’m not sure anything would happen in season, but uh that’s just a hell of a loss, man. I mean, we’re we’re 24 hours after it and I’m still like I cannot believe they lost that game. It when when you consider how bad the Jets have been on offense, that performance just gets worse and worse and worse on defense in so many ways. Like the Jets, they weren’t going to start Justin Fields and he threw he he was six for six. He completed 65% of his passes. Like it’s just unbelievable. I Yeah. Unbelievable. And that’s why these conversations happen, right? I was ready to have these conversations when Jake Browning looked Yeah. You know, a few weeks ago, you’re like, “Ah, we got to wait. See if they make a trade.” You’re right. We did have to wait, but the defense has gotten worse since then. And how it’s crazy. And that’s why we are where we are. And part of this, you know, I I think the one thing that we haven’t really talked about in this episode, we’re out of time, is ownership. But ownership isn’t sure like what what do you want? You know, like yeah, they need to spend more money and structure their contracts better and hire a real GM and delegate some of those responsibilities so they can do more than one thing at once, but we said all that before and ownership. Yeah, we we’ll continue to try to talk about the the shortcomings, especially during free agency and but they’re not selling the team tomorrow. You’re not going to get a new owner in there that’s going to decide to revolutionize things tomorrow. they’re not selling the team in the foreseeable future. So, it’s it’s you know, you you can ask for them to make changes to the ways that they’re doing business, but that that’s about all you can realistically ask for from from ownership of a team that’s held accountable to no one but the fans. Yeah. Yeah. I I agree with you. They still need to loosen up their purse strings more and and and modernize like even basic stuff that is just simple they should do. Hey, by the way, Jesse Bates makes you better. Shocker. It’ll be a dark day, Louiso said, if they lose Jesse Bates and Von Bell in free agency. Well, which one was more valuable? Everyone knew it was Jesse. So, figure out a deal. Like, those are the things that are maddening when it comes to ownership. But, a lot of blame to go around. And man, oh man, was Sunday a missed opportunity because they should be a halfame out in the the North. That’s what we should be talking about right now. And that’s where I should I think uh ending the show. They should have, could have, would have, didn’t let him off the hook. And now we’re talking about potentially a complete tear down because this defense can’t stop Jake Low to James Rene in the open field. Baby, we would Hey, we route them up now. It’s him up now. It’s It’s two years of this is trending in the wrong direction, too. And and the frustration and and the decrepit performances from this defense just piling up. I don’t know how you can continue to tolerate it. I don’t know how they continue to tolerate it as as bad as it is for us. Like we’re not making those decisions and having to live with it. We’re just watching them make those decisions and having to live with it. You you know that uh that clip of Joe Burrow when he’s watching the Chiefs just get crushed in week 18 last year and they need the Chiefs to win to get to the playoffs. And he’s like there’s nothing I can do about it. Yep. Just got to sit here and watch. That’s all of us. Just got to sit here and watch. We will dive into the film. We’re we’re out of order this week if you’ve been with us all season. So, we will dive into the film of this game. I I don’t know what we’re going to see that’s any different from from But it’s going to be tough. We We’ll also talk about what’s going well in the run game and and the last couple of drives of the game as well. Some of the answers of Bengals offense still needs to find in those clutch moments. Again, hard to blame the offense after they score 38 points. But that’s going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Until next time, thanks for listening and have a good one.

The Cincinnati Bengals are 1-5 since Joe Burrow suffered a grade 3 turf toe injury in Week 2, and the defense has been one of the worst the NFL has seen in the last 25 years.

Jake Liscow and James Rapien dive into the blame game as the organization faces down the harsh realities of team building and development failures that have left the defense without answers.

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