Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - 2024 Cincinnati Bengals Season Post-Mortem: Reflecting on a season that came up just short

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

Jermaine Burton is in the news again for the wrong reasons, and with no more Cincinnati Bengals games on the schedule it's time for a post-mortem on the disappointing 2024 season. Jake Liscow and James Rapien break down the latest on Burton, who very much needs to turn it around. Then, the guys reflect on the close losses and the "one more play" theme of the season that saw the Bengals come up short and waste elite performances from Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and Trey Hendrickson.Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Turbo TaxReady for stress-free taxes and the most money back, guaranteed? Head over to TurboTax.com today and get matched with your Expert—who’s ready to take your taxes off your plate, so you can focus on your day.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There's no Cincinnati Bengals football this weekend. So let's take a look at the 2024 season in hindsight in a post-mortem. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What up, Bengals fans? Welcome to another episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast. I'm your host, Jake Liskow. He's your host, James Rapine, and we are locked on Bengals.

We're on YouTube. We're everywhere. podcast and all the everydayers out there already know that all of you who make us your first listen already know that welcome back to another episode and everybody who's new well you can hit that subscribe button to make sure you don't miss an episode of locked on bengals all off season all season long as we will be here for you to get you that daily hit of bengals news and analysis that you're looking for today we're going to start with the germane burton news that emerged on wednesday some more information around what happened before he didn't travel with the team for their last game of

the season. Today's episode is brought to you by PrizeFix. You can check it out atpricefix.com slash locked on NFL and use promo code a locked on NFL to win $50 instantly when you play your first $5. James, before we get to that 2024 postmortem, the reflection on the season that was that fell short of expectations, a bit of news to get to, unfortunately, with some more details around what's going on with germane burton yeah unfortunate germane burton in the news again this time

uh for off the field stuff obviously we've talked a lot about him on the field he didn't travel with the team for the season finale in pittsburg and part of why might be this and uh the cincinnati dot com has been all over

this they obtained a police report where germane burton was accused of assault. No charges were filed. No charges were pressed from the 19-year-old who was his girlfriend. But at the same time, it's another thing. It's another, man, can he get out of his own way? And so the legal process, at least up to this point, appears to have settled. But man, what a honestly nightmare scenario for the Bengals drafting germane 80th overall and obviously there's details in the report that we can get to but high level it's just like it it was about as bad of a

season on the field and obviously off the field as you could have anticipated when they drafted him 80th overall yeah and this is what we talked about when they drafted him this is what we talked about with all the guests who came on the show to talk about that pick. That was a pick that had a lot of attention in the Bengals draft class because here was a player who go back and listen to our episode with Steve Halasolo, for example, was seen to be one of the more talented wide receivers available in the class. But when you talk to people in the league, when you talk to people who had talked to some of the coaches,

we heard on repeat, this is a guy who, has all the talent, but we couldn't find a single person to say something nice about it. Was the kind of thing that we were told about Jermaine Burton, both on the show and talking to some of our guests before and after recording. And it seems like some of those concerns about his prioritization have followed into the NFL between the discipline that we saw throughout the season, some quieter than others, some of them very publicly made news, some of them, I think did not ever get explained as fully as the last couple of examples where we've had more details be reported on. And it's one of those situations where how many more chances does he get, I think, is a question for a lot of people at this point. Does he get more chances?

Is this a player where, or a situation where a serious team would just cut bait and move on at this point is a question that we had numerous people ask in the lockdown. Insider text subscription, join subtext.com slash lockdown Bengals. We had a few texts. Like, just move on. What's it costing to cut him? What was the question at that point? And so I think that is part of the discussion that has to happen at this point. For sure.

And I'm going to read a bit of the report again, the entire thing. Multiple reporters on this from the Cincinnati Inquirer, Kelsey Conway, and then multiple of their other reporters. I'm going to give credit here. Cameron Knight and Sharon Coolidge also. But I'll just read a little bit of it just to give our everyday. and people listening some context here. The woman called for help around 8.45 a.m. on December 30th,

Jermaine Burton, on the Bengals, just broke into my house. He broke my phone. He's been, like, pretty abusive. He does a lot of things I don't tolerate. He was yelling at me in the car. He was screaming and saying things. He wouldn't let me go inside. He bought my door so I couldn't go inside.

And when I did, he chased me upstairs. He broke into my house. broke my phone. This is the second time he broke my phone in the past month. He broke my phone. He hit me. He left. He got in my dishwasher. He grabbed a knife and he held it to his neck. I don't believe he deserved this, she said. So there's a lot there. And you can go read the report. I wanted to give some context because clearly Germain is going through a lot mentally. Obviously this year has been hard on him on the field. Like I have no doubt there. Like I think he's lost from an on-field perspective. And off the field, it seems that way as well. And so when you

make a pick like this and the Bengals as of 1232 Thursday, Eastern time, as we record this, they have not cut him. And so if they're not going to cut him, and I don't think they are right now to answer your question. When you see this, and again, it's alleged, but even if it's 10% true, right? There's something going on. And that's it. Even if it's, because there's going to be people that go out and defend him because he's a 23-year-old and all those things, fine.

But this cannot happen. This is unacceptable. Even 10% of it, 5% of it, 1% cannot happen. And so what Jermain needs to do and what the Bengals need to do, and I think the Bengals have tried to their point, you know, certain players in the locker room, certain coaches. But it's about germane figuring out, one, if he wants to be an NFL receiver and a successful one, from an on-field standpoint and dedication standpoint.

And two, if you just want to be a productive citizen, like this is, because this could lead, if charges are pressed, now we're talking about a whole different realm here. And that didn't happen for whatever reason. Fine. This has to be it. This has to be the turning point for Jermaine. And that's on him. That's on the Bengals if they keep him.

And that's a tall task because like I said at the top of it, this has been about as rough of a rookie campaign as you could have envisioned, I think, for Jermaine Burton. And he's had chances to turn it around. Obviously, there have been signpost moments. Hey, turn it around now. or when are you going to turn it around? And most notably of those that we've seen before this incident

was Joe Burrough stumping for Jermaine Burton in his midweek meeting with the media and then Burton missing meetings or missing workouts, missing walkthroughs and then being an active. Yeah, the walkthrough. That was ahead of the Raiders game, I want to say? They had a whole plan for him.

The Raiders game. Joe Burroughs out there praising him. And then he just, I mean, that's self-sabotaged, right? that's something that should be a neon sign that says, hey, we need to do something different here, if you're Jermaine Burton. And there's a lot of people that are saying, you know, the locker room has to reach out. Somebody needs to lead this guy. And we don't know the extent to which that has happened or not.

But regardless of what the team is doing, his teammates are doing, at some point, the individual has to make a choice. You cannot help someone who isn't willing to take those. steps and we don't know the details around that right but yeah it has to start with the individual i was on it's a it's a really good point and i was on with uh bengel jim had me on on on their season wrap-up show and t j hushman zada was also on and ben baby and me asked about germane and this was before this report came out and he said he had a good conversation with him i'm sure tj was aware of this we weren't we we had heard about it through back channels, full disclosure,

didn't have the report, didn't have everything that Cincinnati.com and the inquiry were able to obtain. So shout out to them for doing that. But TJ's like, at some point, I can't do it for you. And I think that's where he is right now.

It's like, I can't want it more than you. And that's TJ who's worked with him. And I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but that was the message. And so now it is that there's a, the crossroads that he's at. and he's really got to pick the right path here, I think,

if he's going to salvage this because he does have talent. There's a reason Zach was banging on the table when they drafted him. It's because the hands he has downfield on these go routes are insane. It's really good at it. It's a special quality that a lot of guys don't have, the way he's able to track the ball. But man, oh man, it was a rough first year for Jermaine Burton, and he's got to get it figured out right now.

would still love to get the behind the scenes on what led them to in my mind my perception is is flip from mcmillan jaylin mcmillan who we all thought they were going to draft in the third round to jermaine perton i had behind the scenes there i had an article written bengals picked jaylin mcmillan 80th overall like the whole thing was done because i thought they were picking him if he had fallen to there and then i i see switched it for Burton because it's a receiver and you can do it quickly and you're rolling on the fly. But I googled it the other day and I forgot to switch one of the titles. Yeah. So it says McMillan on one of the little small titles in Google, but it obviously has Burton as the headline. And it's like, man, like that's how close it was. I think. I think it was down to those two guys and they went with Burton. Coming up next, let's flip gears here. We'll take a look at the 2024 season and reflect on really what was a disappointing season,

didn't meet expectations, these Cincinnati Bengals. That's next. This is a message from our sponsor, Intuit TurboTax. Are you tired of the endless waiting, wondering and worrying about your taxes? Well, now that's the thing of the past.

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Lou Aniromo set to interview for the Bengals for the Colts defensive coordinator vacancy next week. And so there is your Ludini update. I would not be shocked if he gets multiple interviews for defensive coordinator jobs. Yeah, the reaction to Lou Annamo's firing by the Cincinnati Bengals in national media is certainly one of a bit of surprise and a bit of, oh, I wonder if they'll regret that one. The Kelsey brothers even wondering what the heck is going on to. to clean up their language a little bit with the Bengals and their decision making. So some interesting reactions from those on the outside

that probably weren't paying as close attention to you with some of the issues with the Cincinnati Bengals defense this year. But like you said, James, let's get to this post-mortem on the Bengals season, reflecting on the season that was a season that so many times, to me the theme of the season was one more play. And there's so many games this season against teams that ended up with winning records, and ended up going to the playoffs where one more play could have put the Bengals in playoff position

and could have totally changed the way we perceived this season. Instead of it being such a resounding disappointment, games against the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington commanders, Baltimore Ravens twice the Chargers, the first Steelers game, all of these games where there are a number of plays where you can say, oh, what about this one? What about this one? And it's so hard to pick the most painful loss or the most disappointing loss.

There's like a five-way tie for first. There's all these games where it's one moment that they needed, one more play that they needed. And you can point to mistakes, self-inflicted issues in most of these games that cost them that game. and eventually dug the hole too deep for them to get out of this year. Yeah, I think if I had to pick, obviously a lot of people would say the Patriots game. To me, the two games, and I think early in the season is where you go here, because you start one and four and good luck, right? Like one in four is a tough hole to dig out of.

Oh, and three, and then one and four. It's not like you get the two and three and you're feeling good. It's the Kansas City game. if they had won that game, think about how different the vibes would have been just in general. Like, oh, my God, they just went on the road and beat the Chiefs. After losing to the Patriots, it would have made up for it.

Even if in real time, they would have been one in one with a win over the Chiefs. The Chiefs somehow would have probably finished either 14 and 3 or 15 and 2, but they, by the way, would have had to play their starters this past week. so that would have mattered too. So that one stands out to me. And then the first Ravens game. And again, you can go over literally every loss, seven of their losses of the eight were by one score.

So you can go over all of them but the Eagles game. And then the other one for me, Jake, it's that first Ravens game. Because if they had won that one, then you're two and three. You just beat the Ravens. You feel okay about the division because you're one and oh there.

You have the Browns in a few weeks. They would have won back-to-back games. Then they go to New York and win. They had beat Cleveland. So they would have gotten over 500. They would have been four and three going into that Eagles game. And it just, it wouldn't have felt like they were in the hole they were in as much. And so I think early on now, of course, the straw that broke the back was the three straight losses in November, in early December at Ravens, at Los Angeles.

And then the Steelers game on December 1st. So I get that. But those games would have mattered a ton, but not as much had you just handled that Chiefs game or that first Ravens game. So those are the two that stand out because they're literally down to their last play in both, where you make that play, Ryan Rico, the hold. Zach Taylor, maybe a little more aggressive. Dejan Anthony gets there a half second later. Or they just don't throw the flag on fourth in 16. I mean, that's it.

Then the game's over in both scenarios. Yeah, it's so easy to point to those games. And then you can look at the other ones that we're talking about here, where against New England in week one, you had the Tanner Hudson fumble. They go three and out on their last drive. They get the ball back to Joe Burrow with time waning in the game. And they just go three and out.

And the targets on that three and out were to Andre Yosevosh, Zach Moss and Zach Moss. They didn't even try to get the ball to Jamar on that. No T. Jammar was weird that because there's, because he would miss time. And then I just don't want to forget to mention this. The Mike Gisicki touchdown that was ruled a non-touchdown.

Another one. And then the defense has a chance even after that because the Bengals punt the ball away with timeouts. And the defense has a chance to get the Bengals the ball back. And New England just picks up two first downs running the ball with Ramadre Stevenson. And that's the end of the game. And they can kneel it out. So it's both units in that week one game.

And okay, you want to chalk that up to week one weirdness. fine. But looking back on it, boy, is that a weird one where the New England Patriots are exactly the team that we thought they were going into the season, fired their head coach, could hardly win any games until they didn't want to win games, and then they won a game in Week 18. And that one, I think because of who the team is and where those teams went late in the season is also up there.

But, yeah, you look at that Baltimore game. where you have the interception when the Bengals are in control late in the game. You give up the game tying field goal instead of doing anything with the ball with a minute 35 to try to win the game in regulation. You take a sack on first down, you go three and out. And then in overtime, you get that gift from the Ravens on the aborted snap, the fumble recovery, and you're in field goal range already. You can point to a lot of these games.

We'll continue to discuss this disappointing season. and got to get to the good part at the end and talk about what we can take away from the winning streak at the end of the season as well. We'll do that to finish up the show coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Fandul, America's number one sports book. The NFL playoffs are here,

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missing a couple of field goals, running out of time at the end of the game, going 14 yards and punting in one of their last opportunities to get points in regulation. After coming back from being down three scores, the tipped pass against the Steelers that leads to that game, getting away from them, fumble six to make it a 17-point game instead of cutting that to be a closer game down the

stretch. There is a lot of disappointment this season on both sides of the ball. I went back and I looked at all their winning time drives and the offense failed him seven times this year. And they won one of those games where the defense picked them up. But against New England, against Kansas City, against Baltimore, against Philly, against the Chargers, against the Steelers, in both Steelers games, actually, the offense had a chance to end their the game on offense and they were unable to do it because of a turnover because of a sack because of in week one where the targets went and so it's not like it's all on the defense here but the defense didn't pick them up in five of those games they they picked them up in week 17

and got the turnover round down to get the bengals the win or sorry in week 18 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. But go ahead. Did they have a chance in that first Steelers game to seal it? Not to seal it, but to, I looked at a couple of drives where they had a chance to keep the game close instead of letting the 10 point margin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That one is this really a quote unquote winning time drive to end it on offense, but they

had the tip pass interception and the fumble six on consecutive drives that really let that one get away. Yep. Yeah. And I think that's why, obviously, the defense, we know why they made the changes they made in our looking for a new defensive coordinator, which will keep you up to date throughout. It's fluid. Who knows, but obviously we're here for you. But that's why the offensive line, I think that's why they're tweaking that, you know, and going with a new offensive line coach, they want to be able to be more effective when you need it.

Like when the game feels like it's getting away, maybe you can go under center and run it a little bit to kind of give your defense a break. Like it would be nice if you could lean on the run game a little. Or just run it effectively from the gun, which is not impossible as much as it's impossible for the Bengals. Other teams can do it and you'll see it in the playoffs and we'll watch it in the playoffs and you'll see, oh, we should see if the Bengals can do that or get the guys at guard so they can actually run the ball when they need to. Yeah, lean on the run at times because part of why, I think they fell short on offense in some of these situations is, and you saw it in this last

Steelers game. And if you watch Hard Knocks, Mike Tomlin said it. He's like, oh, it's all rhythm passing. We just got to disrupt them. And when you do that, then it makes it hard. And then when T. Higgins gets nicked up, it makes it really hard. So you want to be able to lean on the run at times in these AFC North matchups, especially. But in any tight game against a playoff team, and most of these teams we're talking about our

playoff teams and the Bengals, they were one drive short. And that's on offense too. There are issues on offense that they have to fix. And on special teams. Can't be missing multiple field goals and games, can't have bad snap operations. I mean, field goals, you could say, cost them at least two games this year. The field goal operation between Evan McPherson and between the snap and hold operation with Ryan Rico and the kicking change even at some point. Well, Ryan Rico for sure in week five, and then Evan for sure against the Chargers. I mean, those two misses were just deflating, even though they lost by seven, deflating misses. Missed a field goal at the end against the Broncos as well, or in overtime, sorry, against the Broncos as well, even though the offense did their job in that game in regulation.

They scored the go-ahead touchdown. And we've talked about that time situation to death where they had to give the ball back to the Broncos. and the Broncos end up with the Hail Mary-style fourth-down touchdown to force overtime. And then the defense steps up there. And they get the two, three, and outs in overtime after giving up the touchdown in regulation. So some of them are a mixed bag, too. But they did finish the season on that five-game winning streak. And a lot of that was because the defense picked them up.

And this is what is interesting about those that think Louana Rima was scapegoated a little bit for the early season problems. And this is the bounce against bad. teams that we talked about a lot after that Steelers game. But even after that Steelers game, late in the game, the defense did force a field goal. They got a three and out late in that game to give, or win the game was still potentially competitive to give the Bengals chances between those turnovers the Bengals had for the Steelers to blow that game open. And then they finished the game by against Dallas, holding Dallas to a field goal, forcing

a punt, forcing a punt, getting a turnover on downs with Dallas trying to get back and win that game. all of those drives with the game tied. Against the Tennessee Titans, the offense didn't have to play in the second half because the defense went pick six, fumble recovery interception on three straight drives against the Titans just melting down. Against the Browns the following week, both sides of the ball did their job, but the defense holds the Browns from coming back into the game with an interception

and two straight turnovers on downs. Just talked about the Denver game where in overtime they get the two straight three out to give the Bengals a chance after a punt and miss field goal in overtime when the Bengals started with the ball. And against the Steelers, we just saw that they got that turnover run downs at the end of the game. So the defense late in the season really did pick the team up in a significant way. But too many times early in the season to get into the hole they couldn't get out of, it was complimentary in the wrong way where both sides of the ball were letting them down in key moments. Yep.

and they have to get this right very aggressively. We're going to talk about the offseason and like what what they can do. And I think the way to end it as far as like the 2024 season is it, it is a lost season where it's like, man, you get this elite play from Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase has an awesome year. T. Higgins was really good when he was out there. Obviously, T. Hendrickson, amazing.

But they do have the means. have the resources to keep that quartet together and add to their team and add significant pieces and add the right pieces, including the coaching staff. They do. And so that that's the, if you want to look at the optimistic approach, it's like, all right, well, what are the problems? Can they be fixed? And can they be fixed without letting a key guy go to do the, to fix something else? And the answer is yes. And so that's that's the good news. Now, Will they do that as a whole other thing? And we'll have time to discuss it.

But I look at these issues and it's like, okay, well, obviously Zach has to learn some things. Some of the game management stuff is certainly a factor in these close games. I think Lou, and we've talked about it, had his ups and downs, the offensive line. So they're trying to fix it. And that's a start. But it just has to be the start. It can't be the, well, new coaches are going to come in here and save the day. They have to upgrade the personnel and do what they need.

need to do as well to have the room and to have the assets because they have them and they have the ability to create more, but they need to maximize everything they have and all of those resources. Because if they do that, Jake, I really think, like, it's like, yeah, all the Joe Broe MVP argument can easily win MVP next year. Jamar Chase probably should be offensive player of the year this year. But if not, he should be it. He could be it next year.

Like there's a scenario where that happens, but you really. need to maximize it. And who knows, maybe Trey gets the 20 sacks. So if he has other pass rushers around him, you know, that the defenses can focus on. So it's, it's one of those things where, yeah,

nine and eight, it's disappointing. But I don't think they need to rebuild. I think they need to reset a little bit and be aggressive doing it. And hopefully they do. And we'll talk about some of the specific areas. They obviously need to address some of the cap casualties,

some of the things they can do to create cap space. the free agent class, as it were, is not the best free agent group. It would seem. There are guys, though. There's all the more reason to pay T for one and two. Yeah, there are always guys. There are always ways for you to find the players that fit, and the draft will be a huge part of this as well, obviously. But there are some specific areas of Bengals can target,

and if they can improve in those areas, this is a team that was just very close to sneaking into the playoffs or winning one more game with everything we just talked what they went wrong this year in all of those games and that's because joe burrow jimarches jay hendricks t higgins chase brown were awesome players for you this year and the bengals need to do what they need to do to make sure those players are in a good place going into 25 and i think there's going to be a lot of discussion around a few of them in particular and and we'll get to those we have plenty of time for that. But if they can write some of those things, then you still got the core that carried

you to where you got this season, which was just nine and eight, just one game short, and all of those close losses they had where you fix just a little bit. It's not even that you have to be leaps and bounds better than you're right there and in the playoffs and you got teams that are worried about you. And, you know, you listen to Travis Kelsey. He's not scared of the Bengals. Sure, you can believe that. but he's also thinking like, yeah, the playoffs would have been more fun if the Bengals were in it because he wants to play,

if you listen to him, he wants to play all the good teams. Sure. And he's categorizing the Bengals because while he's talking about not being scared of the Bengals, he's also heeping a lot of praise on the Bengals saying this is a good thing

that was hot down the stretch and we would have loved to have had the opportunity to go against the best is his perspective that he shared. Yeah, and I'm a bear cat, so I like Travis. I know a lot of Bengals fans don't. I think the Chiefs were very,

very excited deep down that the Bengals didn't make it in. And it doesn't mean that they're scared. It's two different things. Yeah. But you don't want to have to deal with Joe Burrow if you don't have to. It's just the rings are the same regardless. It doesn't matter who you're playing. It's one of those things.

But yeah, it's if they had won one of those other games, let's say they had won in Kansas City Week 2 and that's it. And then they win five straight and make it into the postseason. there would be people thinking that they can make the Super Bowl this year as a seven seed going on the road three straight times. There would be. And unfortunately, it just wasn't meant to be because it would have been fun to track to see if Joe Burrow could go on the road and slay three dragons en route to another Super Bowl run.

We'll see what news we get over the weekend. That would have been fun. And if we don't get pressing news, the next thing you'll hear from us is likely a look ahead to the offseason and some of those key decisions. of Bengals will have to make in some of those key areas they need to improve or the latest on these coaching searches that something may happen. We may need to come back to you with those updates as they occur. But until next time, that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Thanks for listening. Ho day and have a good one.