NFL 2016: Regular season grades for every team
By John Buhler
The Cincinnati Bengals were bound to have a bad season. It all came crashing down in 2016 on this hapless Bengals team. Whatever Jedi mind trick that Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers coach Joey Porter put on the Bengals in the 2015 AFC Wild Card game, it absolutely worked and ruined the Bengals’ next season.
Cincinnati had a multitude of injuries that affected the Bengals’ 2016 season. Tight end Tyler Eifert suffered an injury in the 2015 Pro Bowl. First-round pick cornerback William Jackson III had his rookie season cut short in training camp by injury. Star wide receiver A.J. Green suffered a hamstring injury mid-season to cut short his campaign.
All this did was compound into Cincinnati’s first sub-.500 season of the Dalton/Green era. These injuries were too much for starting quarterback Andy Dalton to overcome. He was exposed as being a highly inefficient passer in the red zone. Add in a few former coordinators getting head coaching gigs (Jay Gruden, Mike Zimmer, Hue Jackson) and it comes as no surprise that Cincinnati was this bad.
Were the Bengals expected to be worse? To some degree, yes. However, one really wanted to believe that head coach Marvin Lewis would find a way to keep Cincinnati relevant in a competitive AFC North. Cincinnati could turn it around with improving health in 2017, but attrition to the coaching staff doesn’t give the Bengals a bright future. Hate to say it, but they missed their window to win a Super Bowl. It’ll be a while before they win an AFC playoff game.