The Bengals had another let down season, and to everyone’s dismay the blame falls on the quarterback and the head coach. Andy Dalton is already in his fourth year in the league and head coach Marvin Lewis has been here for twelve seasons. From an outsider’s view, the team is mediocre and cannot win big games, but from a fan’s perspective we have a few glaring issues that need to be solved before the start of next season.

First off, the team needs to get healthy. After the first game, we were already down two of our biggest receiving threats, wide receiver Marvin Jones and tight end Tyler Eifert. The season was starting to look like a wash when the Bengals receiving core was hit yet again during the season as Pro Bowl wide receiver AJ Green got hurt along with tight end Jermaine Gresham.

Injury was a reoccurring theme throughout the season, and it just would not go away. Other than the offensive play makers being out, the defense took arguably the biggest hit when Vontaze Burfict went on Injured Reserve on December 9th. Losing your middle linebacker, who is the quarterback of the defense, is a monumental loss that is hard to overcome and the Bengals displayed that. We could not stop the run, and that is basically what buried us in the end.

Secondly, something has got to give with Dalton. The guy just does not seem to be NFL ready even though he has led the Bengals to four consecutive playoff appearances. However, he has lost all four playoff games; two to the Houston Texans, one to the San Diego Chargers, and one to the Indianapolis Colts. Dalton needs help, and that could range anywhere from having him compete for his job with other quarterbacks to getting him even more weapons in this year’s upcoming draft beginning April 30^th.

Lastly, it might be time for head coach Marvin Lewis to find a new team. The guy just cannot get over the hump of winning a playoff game. Yes the players are the ones who play the game, but much of the blame goes to the coach for not preparing his team. It is not like he has not had talent either. He has taken really good teams with a lot of potential to the playoffs, and driven them straight into the ground. It is almost like we are cursed, and we are talking about the same things we were last year: we have to win a playoff game.

Senior Brent Sullivan weighed in on how he thought the Bengals handled their injuries. He goes on record to say, “The Bengals did what they could. They had a lot of obstacles to overcome, and they still managed to make the playoffs.” Brent also said, however, that he is a big time Andy Dalton hater and hopes Marvin Lewis is not our head coach moving forward; I cannot agree more with what Brent said.