Brian Callahan sounded exasperated.
Like the Bengals’ offensive coordinator had already emptied the anger tank so many times, only the words remained.
He sat on his couch Sunday night, iPad in hand, “fuming” at the ineptitude of his offense for the final seven drives against the Seattle Seahawks. He went over those frustrating observations with the staff. Then, finally, the coup de grace, unleashing in an offensive meeting his real feelings on the state of the offense entering the bye.
By the time he reached the contingent of reporters waiting in the media room, there was no spin remaining. Nothing left to hide.
“Nobody coaching, playing has met our standard,” Callahan said. “And our standard’s high. And it should be because we’re capable of being really good. And thus far, we haven’t been. And there’s been a lot of reasons for that. Ultimately, nobody cares. Nobody cares. We have to be better than we’ve been and I think we will be, but sometimes there’s a time and a place to tell the truth. And that’s the truth at this point.”
As players and staff take a deep breath over the bye, Callahan plans to take a quick weekend trip to the beach where maybe the serenity of waves behind the iPad can produce answers to turn a disappointing six weeks into another second-half surge.
This week serves as an important juncture for the staff to self-scout shortcomings and consider changes, whether to style or personnel, that could ignite the group to its former self.
Let’s take a closer look at changes I believe they should make as well as my knowledge of the likelihood those tweaks actually happen.
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