Cincinnati Bengals: 4 reasons it is time to bench Andy Dalton

While first-year head coach Zac Taylor has done a great job at “coach speak”, he has failed miserably with most everything else. But at 0-7, the acknowledgment that the house is on fire needs to happen sooner, not later.

For all the naysayers who insist a healthy A.J. Green will be the first step back to the playoffs, you are wrong. The house that is the Cincinnati Bengals is on fire, with or without Green. Taylor will need to step outside of the box he’s in and think like a coach who hasn’t won a game to see where he goes next. At present, the Bengals need a spark, and benching Dalton is step one.

I’ll concede that it is debatable whether today’s professional athlete is swayed by “messages.” Does benching a player like Dalton wake the doormats? Or, does it more fully explain what looks like a rookie head coach possibly in way over his head.

Right now, the Bengals need anything that stop the losses. Turning to a rookie like Ryan Finley may send a message that being a veteran doesn’t necessarily buy you more time. 0-7 is a deep hole for a team like Cincinnati to climb out of. But 0-7 also means what you’ve done for seven games isn’t working, not even a little bit.

Taylor needs to sit Dalton. The Bengals are going nowhere fast, and changing things up might finally give this team a spark that Dalton no longer provides.