3 reasons why a lost season isn't the end of the world for the Bengals

1. Wake-up call

Now, obviously, I am not in the front office nor am I a part of the team. I can't tell you their exact thoughts, what they're saying, or how they're handling this lost season. All I can really do is speculate, and I speculate (and hope) that they're treating this year as a wake-up call if nothing else. To a whole lot of things.

• A wake-up call that they can't solely rely on Burrow and his receivers to play hero ball for 60 minutes.
• A wake-up call that they need to establish a true run game so the offense stops falling flat on its face.
• A wake-up call that there may need to be some scheming or even personnel changes.
• A wake-up call to invest more money/draft capital in some positions.

Hopefully, the coaching staff and other personnel are watching very closely these last six games. It's easy to blame losses on the fact your star quarterback is hurt, but will they just stick with that excuse and pretend every things fine, or will they be observing what else this team needs to win? I would hope the latter but, again, I'm not in the front office so I can't know for sure.

So long as this team acknowledges that their issues are far more than an injured quarterback and doesn't get complacent, this year may have been just what they needed: a wake-up call.