4 reasons the media are split on Tua, Burrow, and the Cincinnati Bengals
By Steve Rivera
The Bengals are at a remarkable and needed place in their franchise’s history, as they have an opportunity to reset for the future. For those who lament a media that has questions, stop. Give credit to a young head coach who unlike the fanbase, isn’t making excuses, cherry-picking stats to spin an inaccurate counter-argument, and most importantly, isn’t using a straw man to deflect criticism.
As for a national media that’s been opinionated, that’s how it goes when you go 2-14 and have a history of wins and losses that is more of a mixed bag than anything else. Pundits like Dan Patrick and Mike Florio respond to what they see and hear, plain and simple. When former Bengals players offer an opinion, it’s news. When Joe Burrow seems neutral to playing in Cincinnati, it’s news as much as the sound bite that says otherwise.
Fans who feel slighted probably should, but only to a degree. It’s up to the Cincinnati Bengals to flip the opinion of the organization, not the national sports media to assist in the excuse-making. You can listen, and certainly, find reasonable criticism for a sense of “piling on.” Then again, in the words of Bill Parcells, you are what your record says you are. And of late, it says a lot about Bengals football.
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The bottom line is that the most genuine of people have been Zac Taylor and Burrow for knowing it’s never personal, it’s only business. Burrow seems smart to be keeping a cool distance as things play out, and Taylor knows it boils down to winning football games. In Cincinnati, there just hasn’t been a lot of that in recent seasons. The media reports that. It’s up to the Cincinnati Bengals to give them something else to write and to say.