Column: What Patience Wrought
From Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati
There’s much the Chiefs can learn from the Cincinnati Bengals.
Just think about that statement for a moment. It’s not said in jest or to cause a laugh.
And yes, I know that comment is about the team occasionally known as the Bungles, the franchise run by the Brown family with sometimes ridiculous cheapness and strange decision. There have been ink-stained wretches who have written for decades in the River City that it was time for the Brown family to sell the franchise. There have been talk show yakkers and callers who have been pounding home the fact they believe head coach Marvin Lewis isn’t good enough to handle a roster of players and turn them into a consistent winner. There are even those chatters on the Internet who write that quarterback Carson Palmer is all flash and cash, but no dash when it comes to leading the Bengals to a championship.
Last year Cincinnati finished 4-11-1. The season before that, they were 7-0 and back in 2006, they were 8-8.
On Sunday, the Bengals won the AFC North with their 17-10 victory over the Chiefs. It was their 10th victory of the season. Two weeks from now they will be hosting a game in the playoffs at Paul’s place.
How did this happen? What was the big move that turned around the franchise?
It can be summarized in one word: patience.
That might as well be a four-letter word for Chiefs fans who I know are exhausted after being asked to be patient for so many years. But changing the coach, isn’t the automatic method to turn a team around on the scoreboard and the standings.
Building a contender takes stability and the only way stability finds its way through the door of an NFL team is when there is patience.
Consider that 4-11-1 season last year for the Bengals. It was Lewis’ sixth season as head coach and in only one of those years did the Bengals make the playoffs. That was back in 2005 when they won the AFC North, but got knocked out in a first-round game in the playoffs by Pittsburgh. The Steelers would go on to win the Super Bowl, making life for Lewis and the Bengals that much tougher with the Lombardi Trophy in their own division.
But the guy who runs the team, Mike Brown did not push the panic button. Lewis was not dispatched as a failure, although many other owners would have done so after six seasons. Brown did not go out and throw a bunch of money around in free agency, as some teams who are desperate for a championship sometimes do. They signed a couple of UFAs, but they lost one as well in receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh and their passing combination of Palmer and Chad Ochocinco was another year older.
They went out and sifted through all the personnel areas and found some new pieces to plug into the roster, like UFA WR Laveranues Coles and second-round draft choice Rey Maualuga. The bulk of their starters are players that were already on the roster, who have developed under the guidance of Lewis and his coaching staff. Now, the sum of their parts has the Bengals in the playoffs.
The Brown family does this by running a shoestring scouting operation. The team’s has only three full-time people in personnel, not including brothers Mike and Pete Brown. They have several consultants who get involved in the draft preparation as well. But most of the scouting and evaluation is done by the team’s assistant coaches. Once this ‘09 season is over, they will start getting ready for the draft.
Somehow, this has worked for the Browns. It may not work for somebody else, but what they’ve been willing to do is simply say, “This is the Bengals Way. If you can’t adapt and work within the parameters we’ve set up, then don’t say yes when we come calling.”
It would be folly for another team in the league to run their operation as a mirror image or twin of the Bengals. Just as it would be folly to attempt to run another team as a mirror image of the Patriots, or the Steelers, or the Colts.
Listen, I’m not here to tell you that the Bengals are some sort of juggernaut, a dynasty waiting to happen. Among the four division winners in the AFC, they are the weakest. They got even weaker on Sunday when they lost Maualuga to a fractured ankle suffered against the Chiefs. If they win a game in this post-season I will be surprised. But, they will have that chance.
The AFC North champion Cincinnati Bengals got there because of patience and stability.
And that’s something those other 10 AFC teams – and especially the Chiefs – can learn something from the Bengals. Change is a constant in the NFL, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the way to go.
who care’s the chiefs will regress even more because so many players wont be around next year..and haley will be insearch of the right 53 once again..they will turn it around but haley wont be there to get them headed in the right direction..i still say he coach just like Gun..did and Cassell is no better than Grbac…
Very well said Bob patience is the key and also making that right decision in picking draft choices and the right free agents in helping your franchise is the key. Pioli is failing so far after one season. He has a lot of making up to do in bringing the right choices. All his players they brought in so far is from the scrapyard .Only Chambers,Vrabel and Succop has helped some.We will see what happens during the offseason but I will give Pioli a big fat F on the Process they talked about.Man I am starting to believe in Glenn Dorsey week after week when he is playing he is getting better.If we get Suh OH!OH! we have something now!
How long ago was it that Carson Palmer arrived in Cincinnati? How long did it take the team to get where it is now?
Yeah, Mike Brown is regarded as a miserly, fumbling franchise owner but not every team is owned by a wealthy family like the Hunts.
Chiefs’ Nation would likely be more patient if Todd Haley were more placid, however he arrived here after repeated scenes showing him screaming in the face of his players while at Arizona. He has repeated that behavior here and it is widely and appropriately seen as disgraceful and demeaning.
Maybe he will get some religion about that and change. There is a lot to like about other aspects of his approach to the game, particularly his never say die attitude and willingness to gamble to win.
Now the season is about over. There has been about as much progress as there have been steps backward. The Cincinnati game was a step forward but it is also a reminder that there is a long ways to go. Right now the team is relegated to making the most of an opportunity to keep the Broncos out of the playoffs. So be it.
Keep up the good work, Bob. You help keep the spirit alive.
The patient thing to do would have been to stick with Herm–not because Herm was a great coach; but because he is head and shoulders a better coach than Todd Haley. Sticking with Herm for one more year would have given the Chief’s young players another year to develop in a stable atmosphere. Then they could have been perfectly positioned to land Shanahan or Cowher–a young team with experience and cap room.
Next year will be starting over from scratch again. There is going to be a new defensive coordinator and a new offensive coordinator in spite of the objections of Haley. Haley is going to be like Jim Zorn–coach in name only.
A pretty, pretty good cross section of comments on this thread thus far and, I believe, representative of Chief’s fans in general. I’ll add that when patience and the ‘What have you done for me lately?’ mindset brush up against the other as they always will, unrest is the result.
The larger question: How long can patience be asked for? 2-3-4-5 seasons? More? I’d say the Chiefs have gotten their bag limit after 2009 with the patience factor. This current losing continues unabated through 2010 and you tell me where the franchise is heading and be perceived?
The KC Lions? Think about it, and weep.
ThunderChief well said. While we are running patience and process in the ground with Pioli/Haley, we are losing our interest. Sunday’s Star had an article by Babb on losing a generation of fans. No longer do people live and die Chiefs and I predict it will get worse if that is possible. My local bank used to have red fridays, now it is casual friday, not a chiefs shirt visiable. The next generation who must fill Arrowhead just are not there. People are beginning to seem the “proud franchise” is really only a faint memory of one superbowl and the Hunts have gotten as much ride out of that as possible. Now it is up to Clark Hunt, we will see if he has the internal drive to fix the Chiefs or is he just satisfied to be a rich owner.
I’m feeling the same, el cid. So far the Hunt/Pioli/Haley connection has been dumpster diving looking for players to plug in to a team that doesn’t need Band-Aids.
Clearly, this team needs a defibrillator! And soon.
One thing you can say is “wait til 2010″. It will be hard to hide the warts on this team with the next batch of free agency and draft. Pioli may hide but his acquisitions will go a long want into telling just what he is about. Likewise, Haley will be shown to be improving or just bad as some of us think he is (reminder Cards won 10 games so far, so they have not missed Haley or Pendergast but we are expected to view them as saviors, LMOA). Will Haley replace or add coaches, who knows? Lastly Clark Hunt will show his true stripes. Good owner or bad, he cannot hide in TX like his father. The fans are ready for something good to happen and I do not see much patience left.
Boy, all you poster children for “tissue paper” can stop whining any day now. Quit blowing your noses & rubbing your eyes. Get a life & stop pointing your fingers at whoever displeases you today.
Go Chiefs.
OMG, jimbo, you tell them. All those posters you want to complain about are the dummies who buy all that red crap to wear. They buy the season tickets, no small cost or maybe just a game or two. They live and breath Chief’s football for the last 50 years but, WTF, you want to bad mouth them, it is ok. They will stand it better than the jerks who sit on their arses at 1 Arrowhead.
Too much change is bad: See the Washington Redskins. I hope Shanny takes that job so he can see what kind of miracle-worker he is without Elway.
Cassel is good enough for the Chiefs at this juncture. Grbac had far more talent around him at every position than Cassel. This team needs talent on both sides of the ball, and that will take patience, although did Chiefs use surplus cap space to bring in talent? Get to work Pioli. I don’t care if Hunt shows his face or not, but someone from front office needs to face this mess, not just Haley.
Even if you believe in the concept of the right 53, this team is not close on either side of the ball. Punter and kicker may be our best weapons right now.