Cincy Bengals still making bad decisions

By By Josh Taylor/sports writer
November 23, 2003
And so it ends.
Last week's stunning Cincinnati Bengals victory over the powerful Kansas City Chiefs should have been expected. It's always that overlooked, underachieving team that comes up with the big win.
This win did not do a whole lot to change the standings in the AFC West. The Chiefs still rule this division with an iron first. Their closest competition is Denver with a lagging 6-4 record. It did however bring to light an interesting chain of events in the Bengals' AFC North division.
The Bengals have been the cellar dweller in this division since realignment. Before that it was the AFC Central and they were still awful. They have been one of the NFL's worst overall teams since I was born.
Cincinnati finished the 2002 season with a whopping 2-14 record. They finished 2001 at 6-10.
This is where we see a dramatic event happen.
Cincinnati and Baltimore are currently tied up with 5-5 records thanks to the dramatic Bengals win over Kansas City and a Ravens overtime defeat at the hands of Miami. That means that as of today, the Bengals are tied with Baltimore for the AFC North lead. The Ravens have lost two straight while the Bengals have won two straight. That's right, the Bengals are for real this time. Well, not exactly.
Before everyone flips out and starts talking about the ghosts of Icky Woods and Boomer Esiason, remember it's still the Bengals. Yes, they took an upset win over the best team in the NFL. That happens occasionally, but we have proof that the Bengals mystique is still in tack.
The Bengals are tied for the lead, but Cincinnati and Baltimore are tied with miserable 5-5 records. If the best your division can produce is a 5-5 team you don't have a very tough division. If San Francisco or New Orleans were in this division they would also be tied for the lead, and we've all seen how poor these two teams are playing this year.
But, here's why the Bengals are still the Bengals.
Cincinnati drafted college standout running back Corey Dillon about seven years ago as their franchise back. After a number of pretty good seasons Dillon has started to slack off. His best season came in 2000 when he managed to gain 1,435 total rushing yards.
The Bengals started off the 2003 season with Dillon as the starting back. Cincinnati has since lost five of the seven games Dillon has played in this season. He has yet to have a 100-yard game this season and has only busted over 50 yards once this year.
As Dillon has been fighting off injuries the last few weeks he has been replaced in the lineup by former Auburn running back Rudi Johnson. Strangely enough Cincinnati has won five of the seven games that Johnson has played in this season. Johnson has rushed for 347 yards in just the last two weeks and Cincinnati won both of these games.
Now, any average Joe like you or me can easily see that Johnson is the better back at this point and should be the one starting. Apparently the infinite wisdom in the Bengals organization doesn't see it that way.
Earlier this week I read a statement from the Bengals organization that running back Corey Dillon has recovered from his ongoing injuries and will be the starter today versus San Diego and Johnson will be rotated in and out of the game.
I realize that Marvin Lewis deserves a lot of credit for even getting the Bengals this far and that there is more to a team than just a running back, but why not play the guy that's winning?
That's why the Bengals will always be the Bungles. It's hard to get rid of a loser mentality and even harder to get rid of an injured franchise has-been running back.
My apologies to the Corey Dillon fan club of America, but I'm sure I am not telling you anything you don't already know.