Losing your compass, then finding your soul

The best thing about the Bengals win Sunday over the Brown was also the worst. The Bengals showed us why they've been so awful, so unwatchable, or terrible this season on offense, while playing so well Sunday. They ran the football. A lot. And Cedric Benson looked like the 'horse' that the Bengals rode in 2009 to the AFC North championship. Benson carried the ball 31 times for 150 yards. His total pushed him over 1,000 yards with two games to play. The fact that he's gone over 1,000 yards this season has been no small trick. The Bengals, in particular offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski and Marvin Lewis, seemed to have forgotten about Benson this season. And in doing so, they forgot what had them running away from the pack last season.

Think back to 2009. The Bengals swept the AFC North, going 6-0 in their division games, behind Benson's power running. 120 yards at Baltimore, the first running back to rush for over 100 yards against a Ravens team in 40 games. Then, 117 more against the Ravens in Cincinnati. He rushed for 1,251 yards last season. He rushed for 100 or more yards six times. And all of that, while missing three games with injuries. You'd think a team would fall in love with that kind of production, particularly when it led to a 10-6 record. But not the Bengals.

The Bengals decided to fall in love with diva wide receivers in the off season. It led to a lot of broken hearts among Bengals fans.

While signing Terrell Owens and pairing him with the ultimate 'look at me' Ochocinco (whom we truly do like because of his infectous personality), the Bengals went high on the glitz meter. But the wins didn't come. Largely, that was because they have an offensive line that was built for run blocking and not so much pass protection. TO wasn't around in the off season to pick up the Bengals offense quickly. Ochocinco was away so much, he seemed to have forgotten the Bengals offense. Palmer, for all of those reason and the fact that he was not good himself, has had an horrendous season.

In two weeks, it will be over. Most probably, the Bengals will part ways with Lewis and a new staff (as new as Mike Brown will allow it to be considering assistant coaches are pass on to each incoming new head coach) will be charged with fixing this mess. Owens will command much more than the $2 million contract he had this season. The Bengals will probably let him find that money elsewhere. Ochocinco has a $6 million dollar option for 2011, Palmer a whopping $11.5 million. Most teams would let both of those players 'walk'. Maybe the Bengals will too.

Benson is a free agent as well. His NFL modest $3.5 million salary figures to get a sizeable bump. Maybe the Bengals will choose to let him go as well. But they should think long hard about that. They should consider what he offers more than Palmer, TO and Ochocinco. Benson was 'found money' when he washed up on the Bengals' shore in 2008. Sunday, he gave us a refresher course in what that meant to this team in 2009. 2011 will look a lot better, if the Bengals decide to keep Benson around.

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So are you ready for some TO? In the be careful for what you ask for department, Carson Palmer has apparently sent back glowing reports on his new workout partner. If you haven’t heard, Palmer has been playing pitch and catch with TO out on the left coast.

But hang on, now we hear that the Rams are ‘seriously interested’ in signing Donovan McNabb’s BFF. And, that’s the ménage a tois that Drew Rosenhaus was looking for. Two teams, one client. Let the bidding war begin.

The Rams, according to various reports, will meet Monday to decide whether or not to offer a contract to Owens. The Bengals?

If you’re a Bengals fan who believes that running a football team is just like you running your fantasy football team, please go butter some toast. The adults would like to talk for awhile. It was on some chat board Saturday where a ‘get a lifer’ posted, “Just sign TO right now”. Sure, and deactivate some other wide receiver, make sure you have a quarterback and a defense that isn’t on a bye week and post your line-up. You’ll be all set.

Terrell Owens has been a very talented plague on some very good football teams and a rash on some very good quarterbacks. Carson Palmer has sent glowing reports back to the Bengals on TO. Somewhere, Tony Romo just did a laugh spit. Here’s what TO has done in his career: he’s sicked wide receiver against wide receiver, quarterback against wide receiver and pouted when he didn’t get the football. That’s not opinion, that’s fact. You don’t know about this? You obviously haven’t been paying attention. Google him and see what you find.

But Terrell Owens is tremendously talented, even at the ripe age of 37. He’s a big man, who can still run, still get open, still catch the ball. He didn’t do a lot of catching last year when he was banished to Buffalo, consoling himself with six millions dollars. In fact, the great TO only had a couple of touchdown catches in his final five games, only 15 receptions over that time too. But of course, Trent Edwards is no Carson Palmer. TO was also on his best behavior, knowing that he was on a one year deal and would have to pedal his services all over again this spring. Except, nobody was buying, not even teams that really need wide receivers.

Seattle? No thanks. Chicago? Not interested. Tampa, Pittsburgh, Kansas City? Thanks for thinking of us, sorry. If a wide receiver is as talented as TO, if teams what have a real need at wide receiver have all taken a pass, do you think there might be a reason why he’s unemployed?

We’re all judged by what we do in life. Most of us make mistakes, some of us get second chances. TO is on his fourth chance by my count. Maybe the real TO was the TO in Buffalo last year. Maybe he finally understood that when divas get older, so does their act.

Your Cincinnati Bengals have done very well with reclamation projects. Tank Johnson, Cedric Benson, the late Chris Henry. The latest class includes Pacman Jones and Matt Jones and maybe TO

It may be that the Bengals are interested in TO, not so much because Palmer is filing glowing reports. It may be there is something wrong, really wrong, with Antonio Bryant’s aching knee (and just for the record since there hasn’t been an ounce of physical contact since Bryant sign his deal for potentially 28-million dollars, if his knee continues to be an issue, didn’t any doctor pick up on that BEFORE he was signed?) It may be the Bengals are thinking about TO just in case there’s something that keeps Bryant off the field for a significant amount of time, or just in case some of the younger receivers on the roster simply can’t yet cut it.

Being a great wide receiver, being an asset to a team, is more than just running downfield, getting open, making the touchdown catch. A winning team is made up of more than just great athletes. Teams that stand with the Lombardi Trophy every February all seem to have one thing in common: discipline and a no nonsense approach to the game. The Saints, the Colts, the Patriots, pick a team from the last decade.

If To can really help the Bengals, if he’s grown up, if he now understands how wrong he was in the way he dealt with McNabb, Romo and Jeff Garcia, then Mike Brown, go get him. You and your staff, your head coach and his staff have put together a team that appears to have the talent to win and win deep into January this year. I’ve said this for awhile: I like this 2010 Bengals team. But if TO is just a player at the end of the line looking for a payday, keep moving. There’s nothing to see here….nothing that all of us haven’t seen before.

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