Bengals: It is culture vs. talent in Week 17 Battle of Ohio

The Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals will both end disappointing seasons by facing off on Sunday, it will be an interesting experiment in football psychology.

The Cleveland Browns boast an impressive roster of names and talent. Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham Jr. and  Joe Schobert alone arguably eclipse the Bengals entire roster in terms of just talent

We all know Cleveland’s roster has many more flashy names than just the three above. Yet, the Browns are eliminated from the playoff race and sit at 6-9. Whether it is having a quarterback with more commercials than wins, or a head coach who wears a t-shirt calling out an opponent and runs draw plays on 4th and 9, or receivers yelling at coaches on the sidelines, it all boils down to one thing. The culture in and around the team is terrible. Every little thing above contributed to 6-9. Talent only gets a team so far.

Then, there is the Bengals. They are 1-14 and locked up the first overall draft pick a week early. You can say whatever you want about how bad the team is, it is all fair. However, the team has played hard all year long. There just aren’t many good players in the stripes this year. It happens. Zac Taylor has been awful from a football standpoint in his first year as a head coach, but he has been as positive as possible publicly.

He should be commended for his players still playing hard for him, despite the record. Look no further then what happened Sunday in Miami. The Bengals scored 23 fourth quarter points to force overtime. They were facing a huge deficit and a large portion of the fan base wanted the team to lose in order to lock up the top draft pick. They had every reason to quit and didn’t. Culture is just about the only thing Taylor has done right in year one.

The Browns talent won out by eight points over the Bengals culture and lack of talent  just a few weeks ago in their first meeting, but the Browns have since been eliminated from playoff contention and only grown more dysfunctional. It should surprise no one if culture overtakes talent on Sunday.