THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

Who Dey?

Unfortunately this season, there’ve been a lot of ‘Deys’. The Seahawks, the Browns, the Chiefs for God’s sake. You want to pick a bad day for the Bengals this season, you’ve got a lot of options this season.

Bengal fan, congratulations, you have now arrived at your team’s 16th non winning season in the last 17.

I asked this question last night: would it not have been better that 2005 never happened? Would it have been better, if 2005 was just like all the other seasons of bad football we’ve had around here? That way, we wouldn’t have been into believing that a Super Bowl was just around the corner. See, I didn’t drink the cool aid that year. Because I knew, the Bengals defense wasn’t that good it. It was merely good at taking away the football. And as a wise man once said, take aways to a defense are like Max Factor to a model: they cover a lot of blemishes. Actually, the wise man who said that was Dave Lapham, one of his many Lapham-isms. The Bengals had a lot of take aways on defense in 2005. Lot of big plays. Odell Thurman, Tory James, Deltha O’Neal,. Interceptions, fumble recoveries, big plays. But invariably, when a team has as many ‘takes’ as the Bengals had in 2005, it evens out the following year. 2006, not as many take aways. 11-5 in 2005, 8-8 in 2006. Not so many take aways in 2007, either.

I knew, a lot of football watchers around here knew, the Bengals were a big play defense that could get dragged up and down the field. Fast forward to now, not so many big plays, defense that gets dragged up and down the field. It’s been better for the defense lately, but not good enough.

That year, that one year, gave us a taste of what the other world was like, the world that lives in a championship race every season. But ever since, it’s been back to Bengal reality.

I decided I wouldn’t trade 2005 for another season of mediocrity, or worse. It was fun, it was 1988 all over again. But why haven’t we been back there again? Why was it one and done.

Lot of reasons. When you crash and burn in sport, it’s never one thing that gets you. It’s a lot of reasons. In the Bengals case, it’s been suspensions, injuries, and some whiffs on draft day and free agency.

Until game nine this season, the top three Bengals picks from 2005 were missing. Their top pick from 2003 has been nothing but injured. Their second round pick from this year never got out of training camp.

The Bengals chase free agents in the winter time, but not big time free agents. Instead of Adalius Thomas, we get Kendrick Allen and Ed Hartwell. Thomas is on an undefeated team today. Allen and Hartwell were cut before the season began.

And the whiffs on draft day have been killers. Keiwan Ratliff, a second rounder, Dennis Weathersby, a fourth rounder, Reggie McNeal, Mathias Askew…too many.

You ask why the Bengals are 5-9 and the answers aren’t hard to find today. You ask will it be better in 2008 than 2007 and you have history to suggest no. You ask is it worth your trouble to watch this team for the final four games this season, and the answer is, yes.

First, let’s put the positives back into the equation. You live in a city that has something most American cities do not: a National Football League franchise. Never discount that. The NFL is a business with limited assets. There are only 32 teams. And, may God and Roger Goodell forbid, if we ever lost the Bengals, we’d never, as in ever, get another team here again. We love Cincinnati, that’s why we live here. But the town is too small for the NFL to start all over again here.

Second, never lose sight that despite a 5-9 record, this is a team with some magnificent players. Three of the last four weeks, Carson Palmer has stunk it up. But he remains one of the top four quarterbacks in the league. Brady, the good Manning, Romo and Palmer. Period. TJ Houshmandzadeh is a Pro Bowler who’s hit his stride. Bobbie Williams can flat out mash block. Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall are two young and long on potential corners. Madeiu Williams can run like a deer and hit like a moose. And when he concentrates on his job and not his hobbies, Chad Johnson can be simply terrific.

Third, these next few weeks will tell us who wants to be here, and more important perhaps, who doesn’t deserve to be here. Players quit. It’s human nature. The greats one don’t, the good ones don’t some do. Unfortunately, we’ve seen it around too often. Football is no different than your profession. You know it, when things go badly at your job, you’ve got co workers that pack it in, clock out ten minutes early rather than ten minutes later. Maybe take a 90 minute lunch break rather than an hour….when they have a couple of free minutes, they’ll shop on the internet rather than help a co worker with their work.

In football, it’s called ‘going through the motions’. You look like you’re playing the game, but you’re not. You’re not taking on blocks, not making the tackle, playing at something less than full speed. I’m not saying we’ll see that from any of the current Bengals. But watch for it. It will tell you who wants to be part of the solution around here, and who could be part of the problem.

And finally, the best reason to watch and care about the rest of this season is because this is your team. If you’re a real fan, you’re with the Bengals through thick and thin. We’ve had plenty of thin around here in the last 17 years. We’ve got practice dealing with that. But if you’re bought the tickets, use them. If you’ve bought the flat panel plasma TV use it. If you’ve got the Bose ear plugs, stick ‘em in. Be a real fan. It’s OK. We’re all going to be OK, someday. That’s one of the best part of life in Bengal-dom. We know better days are ahead. We’re just not sure of the year.