Is there any hope for the Bengals?
OCTOBER 1, 2000

Fan's View

Today, football fan Steve Schindler criticizes the hapless Bengals and explains what they need to do to improve.

The Cincinnati Bengals have had just about all they can take. Three games into this young NFL season, they have lost all their games, lost all of their confidence, lost their head coach and now have forgotten their manners. Someone needs to remind them that it's not nice to point fingers at one another.

Apparently, Cincy quarterback Akili Smith went around recently pointing fingers and saying things like, "I don't want to point any fingers, but . . ." He then made some loose references indicating that it sure would be nice if the Bengals could make a field goal every now and then. Well, I'm not positive, but I think that reference might be aimed at Bengal kicker Neil Rackers. Seems he has something to do with kicking the team's field goals.

Back in my days at Catholic grade school, I remember a wise and really old nun telling me that if I pointed a finger at somebody, there'd be three pointing back at me. I think her reference was to a heavenly triumvirate I was just then learning something about. But Smith has more earthly worries to deal with as this team crumbles around him. If he starts pointing fingers, he might get three QB sacks back.

There aren't enough fingers in a finger sandwich to point out who might be responsible for the six interceptions the Bengals have thrown so far this season. Nor should anyone want to point out who might have allowed the plethora of QB sacks that have rained down on Smith. The Bengals are on pace to allow 85 sacks this season. Smith still is clearing his head from the banging he took against Baltimore.

Running back Corey Dillon is running strong, but he has only 82 yards to show for his 41 carries thus far. The Bengals have lost five fumbles. Tremain Mack fumbled a kickoff return in each of the last two games. At the same time, Cincy only has taken the ball away three times. Things are just terrible, and no one knows what to do about it.

The Bengals opened Paul Brown Stadium this season to great fan excitement and grand expectations. They easily sold out the opener against cross-state rival Cleveland, but that might be it for sellouts this year. After the first three miserable showings, their second home game failed to sell out before the league deadline, so there will be no local broadcast in Cincy this weekend. The stadium holds 65,600 souls, and nobody in the Bengal ticket office seems to know just how many of those seats are left soulless for Sunday.

That's what drove recently departed head coach Bruce Coslet away this week. Things were so bad, he had no answers and didn't have enough fight left in him to go looking for them. So he just left them all for someone else. Now, the tiger trainer's whip is in the hands of the new guy, Dick LeBeau, and he is attacking these troublesome big cats the only way he knows how: head on.

Promoted from defensive coordinator, LeBeau is a respected defensive mind and has coached that side of the ball his entire career. It is left to him to energize an offense that has scored seven points in three games. He has charged ahead with some superficial Band-Aids so far, but it might take major surgery to make the Bengals a competitive team once again.

Some blame needs to be pointed at the offensive line. Starters Willie Anderson, Mike Goff, Brock Gutierrez, Matt O'Dwyer and Rod Jones have been beaten off the line all season. They must turn things around to allow Smith time to find his receivers and unleash Dillon's fury on opposing secondaries. There's sure to be some shuffling here to find the right mix. LeBeau has a couple of his old Steeler buddies, tackles John Jackson and Jamain Stephens, waiting in the wings to move in for anybody who can't toe the line.

Nobody dares point fingers at defensive end Vaughn Booker, who is not playing because of undetermined health problems. But the remainder of the defensive line must pick up the pace despite the loss of their best pass rusher and run defender. Things are bound to get tougher here with the depleted rotation tiring out more quickly.

It doesn't take magic fingers to point out what Peter Warrick and his receiving friends must do to help end these Cincy doldrums. The crispness and precision of their pass routes must improve dramatically, and LeBeau needs to take them back to school, teaching the basics of releasing cleanly from tight bump-and-run coverage.

This team loved its former head coach, but Coslet ran a lax ship and let his team get out of hand. His players didn't feel any pressure to perform, and that's why he had to go. Now it is left to LeBeau to whip this team into shape and turn things around.

LeBeau needs to let his players know that no job is safe in the tiger cage. This team needs to feel that if the job is not getting done, then that job is going to belong to somebody else. LeBeau must place his stamp on the Cincinnati Bengals. He needs to make it perfectly clear that there is a new tiger trainer in town, and every player on his team better start eating raw meat. And they'd better mind their manners.