The topic of exactly what has gone wrong for the Cincinnati Bengals this year is complicated, to put it lightly.
But for an NFL legend like Steve Young, the central figure behind the struggles to capitalize on an MVP-worthy season for Joe Burrow is simple — Bengals ownership.
While Young admitted that some of the struggles across the NFL could be attributed to shorter summer training camps and preseasons that lead to simple, sloppy ball, for the Bengals, he looks right at ownership.
“I think what you gotta do is not look at Joe Burrow.” Young said. “You probably have to look at everyone else, including we don’t do a good job of looking at the ownership in the NFL. And I think we should do more of that, personally. Because I think it speaks to a lot of what’s happening on the field. Of course, we can’t fire the owners…I’m just saying when things look really weird, go to the top and then work down.”
It’s certainly something we’ve harped on before and is becoming more apparent to even the average fan at this point.
Cincinnati continually loses talent, whether it’s an All-Pro like Jessie Bates or core pieces such as DJ Reader and fails to properly replace them. It’s the same story as in the past with names like Andrew Whitworth and Kevin Zeitler.
Now, there’s the messy contract standoff with Ja’Marr Chase, the Tee Higgins franchise tag and a host of other issues.
Fans might clamor for Zac Taylor to be on the hot seat, but as Young accurately points out, the problems, historically, have stemmed from offices above that position.
