The Cincinnati Bengals are in a world of trouble, as it’s being reported players had everything to do with Ken Zampese being fired Monday. Marvin Lewis, who’s never been one to have any firm hand whatsoever in the locker room, far too often lets players get away with all sorts of issues, including some rather troubling off-field incidents.
Now Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio is reporting players nearly mutinied after Week 2’s game against the Houston Texans, forcing Lewis’ hand to fire the team’s offensive coordinator.
“After two home games only four days apart and zero touchdowns and nine total points scored, Lewis was facing a ‘near mutiny,’ a league source tells PFT. The normally quiet A.J. Green publicly sounded off, and plenty of other players had plenty of pointed things to say privately, we’re told.”
We’ve already made it clear that firing Zampese won’t do a thing to fix what’s so clearly systemically wrong in Cincinnati (read more about that here).
Bill Lazor might be able to do something more to help the offense grow than Zampese, but he cannot replace the offensive linemen that bolted in free agency last year. He also cannot bring back the playmaking receivers that left the year before. He also cannot make rookie John Ross hold onto the football, or stay healthy for that matter.
The Bengals have been on a slow descent into madness for years now. They’re led by a head coach who features Jeff Fisher-esque levels of mediocrity and a quarterback who has always been just above average. We don’t predict a happy end to all that’s transpired of late.
Maybe owner Mike Brown will finally realize Lewis needs to go and the Bengals can finally start from scratch to build a true contender. We don’t advise you to hold your breath, however.