Cincinnati Bengals Fall 39-32 to Atlanta Falcons—Season Over? A Rant!

Here lies the Cincinnati Bengals 2010/11 season. Allow me to provide a eulogy—an angry, disgruntled eulogy. 

Reader beware, this is a rant. I apologize for what may be an overtly emotional article, but as you read it, I'm sure you'll think the same things went through your head during Sundays game.

In my time as a Bengals fan, I have never been more frustrated than I was watching the game on Sunday night. Now, some might hasten me in my conclusion due to the Bengals 22-0 third quarter rout, but that does nothing but make me more furious.

The Cincinnati Bengals CAN play football, they just cannot play football unless their collective face is being rubbed in the dirt, until they're being told they can't win, that it's too late. Why is that? Why can't the Bengals turn up and play from the first quarter through to the fourth? This is just one of the questions that must be playing on every fan's mind following the Bengals Sunday night performance.

Carson Palmer looked good in shades, because he'd woken up at the half, he'd come out trying to prove people wrong, I just wish he would have done that when the first whistle went at the kick-off. He put up  a lot of yards—just think what he could do if he played like that all the time? It's not all his fault though when things go bad, sometimes I feel as if he's playing without an O-line.

Penalties were STILL an issue. This team is simply not disciplined enough. Having too many players on the field is a penalty that we really shouldn't have to worry about. It's pathetic.

In the final drive, we didn't play like a football team. We played like a bunch of overly emotional stroppy kids; Gresham fumbling the ball on the final drive, luckily getting picked up by Chad was a good example of this—there was no focus, it was like playground football. The discipline just isn't there, the cohesiveness just isn't there.

So who to point the finger at? I have been a staunch defender of Marvin Lewis for quite some time, but i am beginning to feel as if the man needs to go, this is not to say that he is utterly useless, as he clearly said something that got the team going at the half. The man just does not know how to keep a football team focused, to make them play as a unit, and leave everything on the field.

A change is beginning to look like a necessity. I just feel as though if you handed someone like Mike Shanahan the team that Marvin Lewis coaches, then the Bengals would most certainly have a better record than they do right now.

Forgive me if you think there is light at the end of this tunnel, but i simply feel like we are not good enough right now, in all areas. With the Steelers and the Ravens pulling further away and with a Bengals schedule that gets tougher and tougher I don't feel as though we can pull off a 10 game win streak, so who does?

Am I wrong to be so down on yet another loss? Am I wrong to put the blame on Marvin Lewis? For the first time in a few years I feel as though it's going to be a long time until we're a postseason contender, i'm talking a pretty big rebuild. Bratkowski needs to go, Lewis needs to go, and maybe we need to start to think about letting Carson go.