Duke Tobin's tone-deafness on Joe Burrow shows how cooked the Bengals are

When Duke Tobin held court with local media during Friday's press conference, he struggled to present viable solutions for the Cincinnati Bengals' recent woes.

That terminology of "woes" might be underselling it. Tobin has effectively burned through three years of Joe Burrow's prime. Burrow has said this offseason is "as big as it gets" and so far, Tobin is off to a rip-roaring start!

If only that were actually true. Tobin put his foot in his mouth multiple times during his uber-rare presser, but perhaps not more so than when the subject matter shifted in Joe Shiesty's direction.

Click here for a link to Duke Tobin's full press conference.

Duke Tobin blames Joe Burrow for not having enough resources to build Bengals defense

Tobin indicated that Burrow is part of the decision-making process when it comes to building the team, but all the other comments he made about our beloved Joe Brrr weren't too great. It spoke to a lack of personal accountability for how much Tobin has failed Burrow throughout his career.

This passage about how the front office has "taken great pains in building and offense around and for" Burrow is particularly noteworthy. Easy to get lost in the shuffle of Tobin congratulating himself on the Joe Flacco trade!

Here was another telling excerpt that I personally transcribed because I had to make sure it was actually real. the question was about wasting Joe Burrow's Super Bowl window, which he's said is his whole career, but that's obviously not true, since the Bengals have missed the playoffs thrice in a row and all.

"It's not any individuals in this building's championship. It's the Cincinnati Bengals' championship. That's the only definition of success that I have. [...] We have set our team up for Joe in a way that we feel is pretty darn good. There are resources on the team that we've expended on that, so when you spend 60 percent or 65 percent or whatever it is on offense of your cap, it's going to effect other parts of your team. We know that. We have to find solutions that fit into that, that then produce on the other side of the ball. And we will. We're positive about that."

Read More: Bengals' faulty front office exposed in rare Duke Tobin press conference

Oh yeah, Duke? You've set up the team for Joe in a way that y'all feel is, and I quoth, "pretty darn good"?

What a gas! Intentionally antiquated language used there, because Tobin is a dinosaur who's held his position amongst the Bengals' brass since 1999. Yeah that's right. Folks were freaking out about Y2K and still used floppy disks to exchange information. That's how long good ol' Duke has been here.

Does Tobin deserve some credit for some of the decisions he's had a hand in over the years? Of course. But my goodness, the track record of late has been atrocious — particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

It's nice to see Myles Murphy finally take off in Year 3. Nice to see Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter not play like the NFL's very worst linebackers against opposing QBs like Quinn Ewers, Jacoby Brissett, and Shedeur Sanders down the stretch. Nice to see Jordan Battle and DJ Turner come into their own in the secondary.

We can acknowledge all that and realize that Tobin has actually done a terrible job capitalizing on the assets at his disposal to build a competent defense. See: Drafting Shemar Stewart over James Pearce Jr. for one of many examples in the past four years.

For those wondering — even if you weren't, sorry, you're stuck here now! — Pearce was my 11th-ranked prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft. Stewart checked in at No. 52.

if you put me and the top Who Dey Heads on X/Twitter in charge of the draft, we'd have the Bengals in Super Bowl contention. This is one of countless examples of Tobin being incompetent at his job.

Never mind all the hits Burrow has taken thanks to Tobin and Co's inability to build a viable offensive line. The cumulative impact of those hits added up to two major injuries for Burrow in the past three seasons.

Glad the o-line is finally, seemingly solved. Only took six seasons, Duke. Now fix your friggin' defense.

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