Larry Johnson Gamble Shows Bold New Philosophy from Bengals Management

A lot has been made of the Cincinnati Bengals’ decision to sign troubled ex-Chiefs running back Larry Johnson. Monday, Bengals.com columnist Geoff Hobson correctly predicted it will be "debated hotly through the hills and valleys of Bengaldom."

Some see it as a great move, gaining insurance for the playoffs, especially since feature back Cedric Benson is nursing a hip injury.

Others think Cincinnati is introducing a locker-room cancer into a close-knit team, torpedoing what has been a special season thus far.

And some figure it can’t hurt, because, at a pro-rated league-minimum salary, Johnson costs the Bengals nothing to cut if he’s a problem.

Lost in all this speculation, though, is what the move says about Bengals management. It’s easy enough to talk about Johnson as a huge gamble, but that really puts the focus on Johnson and not the Bengals.

The truth is signing Johnson says very good things about how the Bengals are managed.

Pretend for a second it wasn’t Larry Johnson the Bengals acquired. Pretend it was anyone else who could play reasonably well and add some depth to a position that would be frighteningly thin if the starter went down.

At 7-2 with seven games to play, the Bengals saw themselves in position to make a move. Two things could probably derail a playoffs run in a matter of seconds—losing Carson Palmer and losing Cedric Benson.

So there were the Bengals minding their own business when, suddenly, a two-time Pro Bowl running back hit the market. “You know,” head coach Marvin Lewis likely thought, “if that guy is willing to do things the way we want here, he could really contribute to us making a deep run at a championship.”

And when did that thought occur to Lewis? Last Thursday. Before Benson got hurt.

There’s a new way of thinking in Cincinnati. The Bengals have decided they are going to do what is necessary to win games. We saw it from the coaches in the offseason. We’ve seen it from the players during the season. Now, management is getting in on the act. Owner Mike Brown pulled the trigger on a controversial deal because it just might earn him something his father never had—a Lombardi Trophy.

This is aggressive, win-now thinking. It’s the kind of move the Patriots have made (Corey Dillon? Randy Moss, anyone?) multiple times. Ask Robert Kraft how it’s worked out for him.

It’s unclear right now whether Johnson can make good on his last chance the way Dillon and Moss did, but the Bengals management team should be praised for stealing a play from Bill Belichick and Co.

If it works, this little controversy will be forgotten, as, in the words of Bengals founder Paul Brown, “winning makes believers of us all.”