Offseason In Focus: The Bengals Blueprint

Well, that was a season. This time last year, I wrote on these pages that a lot needed to go right for the Bengals to be competitive – an improved pass rush, a better secondary, a relatively injury-free year, free agents to make an impact and the offensive line to play better. The list was seemingly endless.

And yet, the stars aligned and many of those questions were answered in the extreme affirmative.

Bengals fans worldwide knew deep-down that the team could – and should – be better thanks to their skill position players. But last season surpassed even the most optimistic of fans’ wildest dreams.

Burrow recovered from his potentially career-ending knee injury and, towards the end of the year, played at an extremely high level, the receiving corps of Higgins and Boyd were as advertised, and Mixon had a bounce-back year the likes of which we knew he was capable of and has been capable of in the past.

However, it was the addition of Ja’Marr Chase – whose selection had been the subject of intense debate – that really tipped things over the edge. When he proclaimed he was going to break all the records, many of us just put it down to shiny rookie braggadocio.

Reader, he broke all the records.

But it wasn’t just the offense and the skill position players that re-floated the Titanic. DJ Reader, Trey Hendrickson, Sam Hubbard, Logan Wilson, Germaine Pratt, Mike Hilton, Chidobe Awuzie… all these guys and more improved dramatically and made a huge impact.

A few other things catapulted the Bengals onto their Cinderella-like trajectory to the Super Bowl. New uniforms, the introduction of a long-overdue Ring of Honour and an aggressive focus on social engagement by the front office and creative teams cannot be overlooked in creating an environment both within the building and within the fanbase to cultivate excitement and expectancy.

Allied to this was an outstanding locker-room culture that clearly made all the players love coming into work each day.

Of course, better players playing to their potential helped the Bengals turn things around greatly. From that came confidence, momentum and a clear-eyed fearlessness. Adding all of these ingredients into the pot and letting it bubble away meant that anything could happen.

Nothing signified this lightning-in-a-bottle kinesis than the team’s in-house catchphrases that spilt over into the fanbase. To begin with, it was ‘why not us?’. When it was clear something special was emerging, it changed to ‘it is us’.

And it was. Almost.