The Bengals Should Follow the Colts

Why do the Indianapolis Colts, this week's opponent, continually have winning seasons and the Cincinnati Bengals do not? Here's why:

1. General Manager The Colts have a general manager. He is Chris Polian. The Colts GM is not the owner. So, he can be held responsible for poor decisions.

The Bengals don't have a general manager, well at least one that can be fired. the Bengals are run by Mike Brown, who is the owner of the team. So when Mike makes bonehead decisions, there's no responsibility. By the way, with the loss to those bums from Pittsburgh, the Cincinnati Bengals have lost 200 games out of 311 during Mike Brown's watch.

Let's look at some of the bonehead decisions of Mike Brown. Staying with head coach Dave Shula for an agonizing four years. (1992-1996) Easily the worst coach in the history of the team. I knew after his second year, this guy was terrible. His record? A craptastic 19-53. He's out of coaching and working his dad's restaurant business. Then there was Akili Smith. He was the third pick overall in 1999. The Saints offered all their picks for the Bengals first draft pick. Mike Brown liked what he saw when he saw this guy throw the ball in his shorts. The Bengals held their ground and the team got stuck with what former football analyst Bob Trumpy called an idiot. He was later released in 2002. Let's hop to the 2009draft. The Bengals drafted offensive tackle Andre Smith. Yes, he's talented. But he left the NFL combine. He could have stayed and had a bad workout but no, he left. Okay, folks that' s like leaving a job interview and demanding you still get the job. And lest I forget, he got suspended for his college team's bowl game. Want more? Andre held out, broke his foot. He ended up playing in just six games. This year, he showed up out of shape. As a right tackle, he can be counted on to make a false start or some other stupid act every game. By the way, the Bengals could have had Michael Oher, you know the guy from the movie, "The Blind Side." And what about the cherry on top of this crap sundae? This year the Bengals signed wide receiver Antonio Bryant who they knew had bad knees BECAUSE HE WAS COMING OFF TORN KNEE CARTILAGE SURGERY. They gave him eight million dollars in guaranteed money. Because of his knees, he never played a down for the Bengals. Oy vey.

There's more bonehead decisions but at least two of the above examples would get any GM fired. The problem? Mike Brown is basically your GM. He is also the owner of the team. I wish he would step down and just collect the money. But stepping down is akin to firing himself. Ain't going to happen.

2. Scouts. Here's what I gather from both team's websites. The Bengals employ five scouts. I include director of player personnel Duke Tobin. The Colts employ 10 scouts. That's without including the Colts player of personnel. See the Colts easily double the number of scouts that the Bengals have. That's more eyes on the who to draft and obviously included double checking of talent.

3. Conclusion. Success starts at the top. If the Bengals followed the Colts on the football operation side, they would succeed. It starts with the Bengals hiring a GM. One can dream.