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

It happens to a lot of players. Be it Father Time, a new coach, or a change in management, it is often out with old and in with the new. In this case, the Cincinnati Bengals have decided that for the second half of an 0-8 season, looking at a rookie who has been on the bench may also be a glimpse into the future.

For fans of Dalton, you may see this as unfair. For fans of a player who has been a stand-up citizen in the Cincinnati community, you may think Dalton is getting a raw deal. Those are fair complaints, however, the stigma associated with an 0-8 start complemented by an organization friendly contract in 2020 makes the decision fairly routine.

And perhaps that’s the greater indication that the time had come to park Dalton on the bench. So much has dovetailed into this perfect storm that short of a win somewhere in this now 0-8 start, the hand of the Bengals brain-trust was forced to make a decision on a season now headed nowhere.

History in Cincinnati will judge Andy Dalton well. It usually does. Whether he’s in a Bengals uniform again remains to be seen, but for the time being, his role is to shepherd the next Cincinnati quarterback. For Finley, his time is now. For Dalton, that story has already been written.