Outsiders who follow the Cincinnati Bengals even on a tertiary basis have wondered for years how their passionate fan base maintains their patience with an often-times maddening franchise. It’s getting close to Cleveland Browns‘ levels and a recent poll in The Athletic shows that Cincy fans are growing tired of the team’s act.
After its annual fan survey, The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. says that the reactions of Bengals’ fans “were startling.”
“It’s not just that Bengals fans are mad about what transpired over the last 12 months, with Cincinnati missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons and making headlines for a series of ugly, public contract negotiations,” Dehner, Jr. writes. “A dip was expected. Losing, firings and wasting an MVP-caliber year from Burrow and a triple crown-winning season from Ja’Marr Chase will do that.
“The impactful nature was how fast and far belief in the decision-makers of the organization has fallen.”
Fans are not confident the Bengals are heading in the right direction
The Athletic used a 20-question, multiple-choice survey and received 1,892 responses. So, it’s certainly not every fan, but it’s not a tiny sample size either.
According to the poll, only 3.1% are very confident, while 23.9% say they are fairly confident that the Bengals are moving in the right direction overall. 5.3% are not confident at all and it’s easy to imagine why. To put this in perspective, last year at this time 30.5% of Bengals’ fans were very confident in the team’s direction. That’s a staggering drop off.
The offense aside, the defense is in shambles after ranking No. 25 in the NFL in 2024. That’s before addressing the fact that defensive end Trey Hendrickson is holding out for more money following back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons. Considering they already lost six games last year when scoring 25 or more points, it’s easy to see why fans aren’t so gung-ho.
The fans aren’t fans of ownership
This is the underlying cause of almost all outrage in the 513 area code: Cincinnati Bengals’ ownership.
Paul Brown founded the Bengals’ franchise in 1968 and was the team’s head coach until 1975. In 1991, his son Mike Brown took controlling ownership and later became majority owner in 2011. It’s not known exactly when the Bengals began their miserly, stingy ways, but it’s been a long time.
Perhaps the most telling stat in The Athletic’s survey is just how many fans have no faith in the Brown family (Katie Blackburn is Brown’s daughter and has inherited his ways). According to the poll, a whopping 46.9% of the Bengals’ faithful have no confidence in team ownership. That’s not a few young, cranky fans, that’s “I remember the David Klingler days” fans.
“All that said, fingers are pointed directly at the corner offices of Paycor Stadium,” Dehner Jr. writes. “It’s crazy to see a vote of 1 or 2 for confidence in ownership balloon from 14.4 percent last year to 80 percent today. From free agency to the negotiations with Chase, Higgins, Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart, these financial fights are wearing on more than just the parties directly involved.”
That said, the fans can see that the “financial fights” are weighing on the players too. It’s not good when your unsigned first-round pick is already trashing ownership and walking out on mandatory minicamps. How is that supposed to look to a group of people that pay a lot of money to support a team that doesn’t appear to care?
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