For many years the Cincinnati Bengals were one of the league’s laughing stocks. Owner Mike Brown was the NFL’s answer to Ebenezer Scrooge and seemed more concerned about the standing of his P&L Statement than his team’s standing in the AFC North.
But over the last several years, things began to change and the Bengals seemed to care – they became relevant. A scheduled date against Cincinnati’s big cats was no longer a free space on the bingo card. Playoff appearances have become an annual event since the arrivals of AJ Green and Andy Dalton.
Yet the Bengals can’t get off the playoff schneid and after seven tries head coach Marvin Lewis is still looking for his first playoff win.
Lewis, a very good guy and coach must see himself as the “Thug Whisperer.” He’s taken on players that other teams, despite the obvious talents, have chosen to take a pass on. Two such players are Vontaze Burfict and Pacman Jones.
Both are immensely talented and consequently they’ve both taken on leadership roles, if for no other reason than their accomplishments on the field. Players will embrace those who get it done between the lines, oftentimes despite what they do outside the lines. Or sometimes even the extra curriculars inside the lines.
What happened in Cincinnati on Saturday night was a disgrace on so many levels.
It was a disgrace to the game and its forefathers.
It was a disgrace to the fans that spend their hard-earned dollars on the NFL’s product.
It was a disgrace to anyone who remembers the NFL the way it once was before Roger Goodell got his money-grubbing hands on it and morphed the league into an upscale version of arena football. His league is now closer to being the WWE than the NFL many of us have known and loved.
If the league ever wants to consider a replacement for Goodell, Vince McMahon is probably at the top of their list, XFL failures be damned.
The calamity of sad errors starts with the officiating.
John Parry was the referee the last time the Bengals and Steelers tangled. He was intimately aware of the bile that has built up between the two teams. The nature of the competition is different than that of the Ravens v. Steelers. There’s a dirty, criminal-like element to the games between the Bengals and Steelers. And Parry should have known better.
Parry, with the support of Lewis and Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, should have gathered these teams together and laid down the law – that there would be zero tolerance without exception. Any taunting, any skirmishes, any after the whistle shenanigans would result in an immediate ejection.
Obviously that didn’t happen.
Instead we were treated to:
• Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak pulling Reggie Nelson’s hair.
• Steelers defensive assistant Joey Porter illegally going on to the field taunting Bengals’ players.
• Pacman Jones taking Porter’s bait and responding with a swing at Porter to the delight of the Steelers’ offensive linemen who jumped around like schoolgirls after the flag was thrown.
• Handpicked game officials, supposedly the best of the best unable to manage or properly call the game. Ryan Shazier launching into Gio Bernard’s face like a heat-seeking missile. Hello?
• Burfict taunting the Steelers’ sideline
• Burfict throwing a knee into Ben Roethlisberger’s shoulder
• Burfict head hunting
• Burfict’s would-be victory parade into the tunnel following his interception.
How great would it have been if Burfict was not ruled down by contact?
And of course there was Roethlisberger, once again embracing his inner drama queen as he was carted off the field under a shower of plastic bottles, due to a shoulder injury, only to return in dramatic fashion to lead his team to victory.
It was akin to the WWE wrestler getting hit over the head with a folding chair, fall out of the ring, only to comeback reinvigorated, slam his opponent to the canvas and walk off as the victor.
Oh and what about the rumors of Porter receiving a game ball for his effective taunting?
The game was a disgrace.
The NFL has become the ultimate reality show and it’s not due to the quality of the competition on the field.
Had the Bengals won, Burfict’s criminal behavior was worthy of at least a one game suspension. AT LEAST! But Goodell would have had none of that. After all, folks would tune in to see what Mr. Not-So-Perfect Burfict might do again, right? Like rubber necking on the highway to peer at an accident or a trip to the State Penitentiary to visit with one of the Real Housewives, Goodell embraces the drama. He wants the TV ratings. It means dollars and the dollars mean job security for the most overpaid man on the planet.
It’s not as if this is an isolated incident with Burfict. There’s this hit against the Ravens Maxx Williams during the 2015 regular season finale and of course everyone remembers him mistaking Cam Newton’s foot for a corkscrew.
Goodell talks about the integrity of the game but really he’s more concerned about the integrity of the NFL’s coffers. Nothing less, nothing more. In his mind hopefully more and more and more.
Maybe he’ll give Burfict a deserved suspension.
But I wouldn’t hold my breath. Goodell is likely to let the offseason temper emotions so eventually the country’s need for redemption subsides.
One day Goodell will regret it (maybe) when Burfict ends someone’s career in filthy fashion. Maybe he regrets Pacman Jones rants on social media.
And make no mistake about it. He’s still “Pacman” not the allegedly reformed Adam.
Just like his teammate Burfict and his coach who continually enables these thugs by embracing them with hugs and paychecks, nothing will change as Marvin and his chummy pats on the back only serve to tell these hooligans that dastardly behavior is ok as long as we win.
Sometimes you reap what you sow.
I guess it is true that you can’t change a tiger’s stripes.
