The NFL is a league of parity, and teams can see their Super Bowl window close in a second. It’s safe to say that Stephen A. Smith thinks one team is watching their Super Bowl window close before the eyes.
Smith clearly wants the Cincinnati Bengals to lose to the Kansas City Chiefs this week, and it’s because of the way the team runs their organization. Specifically, Smith was furious over how the team has handled both Tee Higgens and Ja’Marr Chase, and he thinks it will bring the team back to the bottom of the league.
Stephen A. Smith Unleashes On The Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals were a few plays away from winning a Super Bowl a few seasons ago, and they lost in a very controversial game in the AFC championship against the Chiefs, but now it looks like it will be a success for the team just to make the postseason.
While the combination of Joe Burrow and their squad of elite receivers can make it to the promised land, the way that they have handled the contract negotiations for their stars has been abysmal. Smith thinks their organization has been so poorly run that it’s going to run their team into the ground.
Smith ripped the team in a long rant, claiming that they have the “cheapest” owners in the NFL. His main issue is with owner Mike Brown, who seems to be refusing to pay his players. Both Chase and Higgens are elite receivers with Chase being one of the best in the entire league. Smith said that because of the cheap owner, he hopes the Bengals lose every game:
“You are looking at a guy right now that hopes Cincinnati loses every single damn game they play until they sign that man and they give him his money,” Smith said. “I hope that the Cincinnati Bengals fall flat on their damn face. That organization makes me sick.”
The Bengals seem like they won’t be giving Higgens a long contract, and they still have not locked in Chase for a long-term deal. There is a world where they will lose both stars and be back to the bottom of their division.
“The bottom line is Tee Higgins was looking for his money. You didn’t pay him, you should’ve paid him, too,” Smith said. “Ja’Marr Chase is one of the top receivers in the National Football League. That man deserves his money.”
Stephen A. Smith lays into the Bengals and owner Mike Brown for not paying Ja'Marr Chase.
"I hope that the Cincinnati Bengals fall flat on their damn face. That organization makes me sick." pic.twitter.com/vEhlQHrnAl
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 12, 2024
The team needs to get a deal done with Chase, as Higgens will certainly walk this upcoming offseason. Chase could be argued to be the best in the league, and the sky is the limit for his career.
If they do not reset the receiver market with Chase, he will go elsewhere to get what he deserves:
“If I want to beat Justin, I want to beat the [expletive] out of Justin,” Chase said. “Not by a penny, brother.”
Chase is clearly expecting the biggest receiver contract of all time, and if the Bengals do not give it to him, many other teams will.
While it may be an overreaction to week 1 to say that the Bengals Super Bowl window has closed, the team is going in the wrong direction. If Burrow loses both of his top two targets, it will be infinitely harder to beat the Chiefs in a playoff game, let alone all the other teams on the rise.
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