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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2008 > December > 29 > Entry
blog: Browns will be in better shape than Bengals
The Bengals finished with three straight victories and — by virtue of that tie with Philadelphia — ended up with a slightly better record at 4-11-1 than the 4-12 Browns, who lost their last six games and , were out-scored, 45-0, in the final two.
So which franchise will fare better in the future?
Even though they canned general manager Phil Savage on Sunday and coach Romeo Crennel this morning — even though their roster has too many overpaid players and the club will face salary cap issues because so many huge signing bonuses that have been handed out — I’ll go with the Browns.
And that’s even if they don’t end up with Bill Cowher, Bill Parcells or Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo as their next head coach.
Whether it’s in politics or sports, change often can be for the better. The Miami Dolphins scrapped everything after last year’s 1-15 nightmare and look at them now. They’re 11-5 and in the play-offs.
As for Cincinnati?
Once again nothing of significance will change and because of it a winning record in 2009 will be just as elusive as it has been the past 18 seasons — when just one Bengals team finished a winner.
Thanks to three meaningless victories in a row to close out this season — against, it should be noted, three teams they should have beaten — the Bengals power brokers can fool themselves into believing they are right on the cusp of NFL respectability.
They’ll point out they had a record 23 players on injured reserve , including quarterback Carson Palmer. They’ll note the emergence of young players and back-ups from rookie receiver Andre Caldwell to veteran running back Cedric Benson.
Certainly Caldwell and Benson and some others were great finds this year, but one thing — the main thing — was no different.
Team owner Mike Brown and his family — good people, but inadequate when it comes to managing a competitive NFL franchise — run the Bengals like a Mom and Pop corner grocery:
No GM, few scouts, no clue,.
And they certainly won’t change anything now that the season ended with a glimmer of hope. But that promise shimmers like an emerald mirage in the middle of a desert.
A young Cincinnati Enquirer reporter touched on that point in a legitimate question to Marvin Lewis a couple of weeks ago and the Bengals coach wrongly laced into him, saying the question was disrespectful of what he and his team were trying to do.
The only people being disrespected here are the Bengals faithful fans, the Hamilton County voters who paid for Paul Brown Stadium and the corporate donors who fork out something like $175,000 to rent a stadium suite.
They deserve more for their money.
Since Mike Brown took over the club in 1991, the Bengals have won just 101 games — 34 of them in December. Most of those wins meant nothing. By then, the play-offs were an impossibility.
And will next year be any different?
Several key players will be lost to free agency and there’s still the looming question of Carson Palmer’s arm. Will it ever be the same again? Will the offensive line — hampered both by key injuries and some over-matched starters — be able to protect him when he does return? Bengals quarterbacks were sacked 51 times this season — three times the number in 2007.
Under the Lerner family the past 10 years, the Browns haven’t — as just two winning seasons attest — been very successful either. But at least they will make an effort to change.
Owner Randy Lerner will spent a lot of money to dump Savage, Crennel and possibly offensive coordinator Rod Chudzinski. Savage has four years left on his contract, the other two have three and that could cost Lerner $30 million in all.
But he gave $12 million to Butch Davis when he left in 1994.
If nothing else, a guy coming into the Browns knows he will be paid well. Sure, name guys are going to want more than that and that’s the convincing Lerner will have to do.
Cowher is first on his wish list, but tops on several other teams’ as well. And the former Pittsburgh Steelers coach has said he was going to stay out of coaching another year.
I don’t necessarily believe that and I don’t think there’s any kind of handshake agreement with the Steelers not to coach the Browns. Whether he wants to come to Cleveland, though, is another story.
Parcells, as ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported Sunday, can leave his Dolphins front office job if owner Wayne Huizenga sells the team and, from what I know from folks in Miami, that seems likely to happen next month in a deal already in the works with developer Stephen Ross.
As for a general manager, the Browns first choice seems to be New England executive president Scott Pioli.
But if that should be the case, Parcells wouldn’t be interested in Cleveland. He’s said all along that he’s not going to work alongside Pioli, who is his son-in-law.
He believes family and business don’t always mix.
Too bad the Bengals don’t see it the same way.
Permalink | Comments (14) | Post your comment |
Comments
By Jay
January 4, 2009 10:46 PM | Link to this
The people of Cincy need to stop with the whining over the taxpayer’s portion of the stadium. THEY choose to go to the games and the corporations choose to buy those suites. No one is forcing them to go to the games, buy the merchandise and watch an injury riddled team. They knew who the owner was when they bought those things. They knew the state of the franchise and the players that were there when they bought those things. Stop the whining already. If you want to send a statement, stop buying the merchandise, the tickets, and the suites, then maybe Brown will get the hint. I am sure an empty PBS will send a better message to them than one full of digruntled fans. He already has your money when you are there, why should he care if you root or boo?By bubba
January 3, 2009 6:13 PM | Link to this
5 of the last 6 years the Bengals have finished ahead of the CLOWNS. The beat will continue, the mistake on the lake is cursed from the acts of Art Modell. Firing coaches every few years and trading all your draft picks is not the answer. Who lost their entire franchise a few years back ? hahaBy whack
December 30, 2008 11:27 PM | Link to this
alot of people on here don’t know too much, Paul Brown is dead. Mike Brown owns the Bengals.(see wildcat) and it’s Romeo not Romero. talk is cheap nobody knows what is going to happen, they both are terrible and i’m a Bengals fan and have learned to live with it just like browns fans, but we don’t switch teams, real fans don’t.By tom
December 30, 2008 10:58 PM | Link to this
On the mark. From a prior longtime fan and SB XXIII attendee, I began to realize in the 90’s that this football orginzation(a front for extorting public money) has no interest in pursuing excellence. Bengal Fans find a new team. You deserve better.By BnOPanther
December 30, 2008 12:47 PM | Link to this
Tom i have heard a lot wrong stuff on this site but this has to be the wrongest. Change does not have to come through firing coaches and GMs. I see the Bengals trading CJ and not franchising TJ, at least I hope the don’t. Then if everything I hear is true a GM will be in place before the draft. How’s that for change. As for the Browns they better find an offensive minded coach that can coach 2 mediocer QB’s, an over the hill RB, and a WR that can’t catch a cold.By KRo
December 30, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this
I agree that the Bengals will use the flurry of meaningless victories to make little change. I am concerned, however, for the Browns. I need to see it happen (winning) to believe it. I’ve watched the Browns, and loved them, for nearly 45 years. These last 13 years have been even more frustrating than ever.By Ryan
December 30, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this
You must like the food better in the Cleveland press box versus Cincinnati’s! Change isn’t always a good thing Tom. What if the Giants had gotten rid of Coughlin the year before they won the Super Bowl? Both teams have issues but to say the Browns will be better off is ridiculous. Change hasn’t done a whole lot of good for them recently. Stick to a sport you understand like the overrated Flyers!By Big Cat
December 29, 2008 10:22 PM | Link to this
Nice job Tom. I do beleive that as long as Paul Brown owns the bungals they won’t improve. Cleveland needs a hard nose coach. Romero was to nice. How about Marty?By Job
December 29, 2008 9:40 PM | Link to this
I agree with you completely Tom. The Bengals are always too stuck up on loyalty and nepotism. They could learn a lot from people like Bill Parcells who completely overhauled the Dolphins this past year. But see the Dolphins owner can acknowledge failure when it hits him in the face, something Mike Brown never does. The Browns have the right idea in terms of accountability and they just need to hire people with a proven track record. Good luck Cleveland, sorry Cincy for your bad luck.By Bob
December 29, 2008 2:57 PM | Link to this
Did any of you, under the rock, Bunghole fans even read the article? Man, the Bungholes finish with a flurry of three wins and you can’t start ripping the price tags off the new bunghole jerseys fast enough. The point of the article is that three wins will allow for “status quo” in bunghole land, in other words another losing season. Enjoy another season of stellar coaching, at least the browns canned their sorry coach, thank God.By Dan
December 29, 2008 2:41 PM | Link to this
Are you joking me right now? To say the Browns will do better is hilarious. Bengals finished before them in how many seasons? Browns have no clue right now and to say Quinn is their future is horrible….Stick with the Bengals…By MANVAN32
December 29, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this
THE BENGALS AND THE BROWNS ARE OHIO’S LAUGHING STOCK NOTHING GOIN TO CHANGE. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!By LMAO
December 29, 2008 1:35 PM | Link to this
Arch..You need to stick to the human interest stories and leave the “sports” to omeone who understands them…Dwight Clark, Carmen Policy, Chris Palmer, Butch Davis, Romeo Crennel, the a legion of great personnel moves, the sum total of all of “changes” the Browns since they’ve been back in the league, have made have led the Browns to to a worse record in the last 10 years than even the Bengals, and nothing they do now is going to be any different results-wiseBy joe
December 29, 2008 12:49 PM | Link to this
Saying the Browns will be better off than the Bengals is like saying a man killed by lethal injection is better off than a man killed by firing squad.