Cincinnati Bengals: 3 reasons Ryan Finley should start the rest of the season

With the news that the Cincinnati Bengals will be benching Andy Dalton, Zac Taylor should make Ryan Finley the starter for the last eight games of the season.

It looks like the Andy Dalton era is over. The Cincinnati Bengals decided that 0-8 was enough, and have benched the veteran starter. While the decision offers something of a mixed bag, it does give Zac Taylor and opportunity to see what rookie quarterback Ryan Finley can do in the regular season.

For fans, the possibility that the Dalton era might be over in Cincinnati is a tough pill for some, and easier to accept for others. Drafted in the 2011 NFL Draft in the second round, Dalton has been a long-time fixture in Cincinnati. While he never had much playoff success for the Bengals, fans had to believe a new head coach from an offensive centric team like the Los Angeles Rams would reinvigorate. It didn’t. Now at 0-8, he’s on the bench.

The bigger question now is where the organization goes from here. After eight starts and eight losses, it seems entirely reasonable that Finley should be the quarterback to finish the season and close the books in 2019. As for Dalton, it’s hard to see a situation short of injury where he ever plays another snap for the Bengals.

The timing seems to indicate that, perhaps, change is coming to Cincinnati. Finley may not be the last part of such a move away from the status quo, but it will be interesting to see what he does if he has an eight-game sample to make his case for 2020.