Cincinnati Bengals big week turns bad at NFL trade deadline | Williams

The Cincinnati Bengals should be riding high this week.They're 6-2 and coming off their most impressive win of the season. The national TV loudmouths started the week raving about how Joe Burrow and the Bengals may just be a Super Bowl contender.It looked like the positive momentum was going to continue on Nov. 10, when it was reported early in the day that the Bengals had made a trade for a veteran pass rusher ahead of the NFL's late-afternoon trade deadline. Somehow, though, the Bengals emerged from the deadline a national embarrassment. Turns out, the Bengals didn't make a trade. And then in typical fashion, they refused to answer questions and take public responsibility for what happened.The Bengals were left with a public-relations mess that the NFL's smallest player personnel department didn't do its homework before agreeing to acquire Arnold Ebiketie from the Philadelphia Eagles. Cincinnati had to rescind it, but offered no explanations.The organization declined multiple requests from The Enquirer to answer questions or provide a public statement. It gets worse for the Bengals, a franchise that was supposedly operating like this is a championship-or-bust season. Actual Super Bowl contenders went out and made big trades to improve their teams, including AFC standard-bearers Buffalo and Jacksonville.The Bengals have failed to put themselves in the same conversation with the Bills and Jaguars, who beat Cincinnati last month. The Bengals needed help on a defense that continues its yearslong struggle to stop the run and cover the middle of the field. The Bengals got nothing. Instead, they're getting laughed at − and they deserve it. The front office unintentionally pulled back the curtain and showed everyone they're still the Bungles. Remember us! The Bengals originally planned to send a sixth-round draft pick to Philly in exchange for Ebiketie. But sometime after the agreement was reported by NFL Network scoop master Ian Rapoport, it was discovered the trade would mess up Cincinnati's formula for receiving a third-round compensatory draft pick supposedly coming their way after Trey Hendrickson signed with Baltimore.The Bengals would've had to forfeit that pick had they gone through with the Ebiketie deal. So they called it off. If you're confused, it's OK. Fans don't need to understand compensatory-pick formulas. But that shouldn't be complicated for NFL player personnel departments. General managers, player personnel executives and scouts are paid to know that stuff. Unless your team has an understaffed player personnel department and lacks information.My friends, this level of buffoonery is a shining example of the Bengals historically cutting corners in the player personnel department. This is why fans and media have harped on the need for the Bengals to add a general manager, scouts and other player personnel staffers. They have about a half-dozen employees doing the work that most NFL teams have 25-30 staffers for. More people doing quality control. More voices making sure everything is covered.But don't you worry, Bengals fans. Duke Tobin has everything under control. The Bengals' player personnel director said in his January press conference that the organization has the right people in the department and they have all the information they need.It's the same talking points the Bengals have offered up for decades. Remind us, how many Super Bowls have the Bengals won? Tuesday's gaffe would potentially be a fireable offense for general managers across the league. But that's right, the Bengals don't have a GM. So no one will be publicly held accountable. Tobin needed to come out and own it and be accountable for it. Fans would've appreciated it. Mistakes happen. All's forgiven. Move on. Instead, crickets. Chirp, chirp, chirp. Fans got slapped hard across the face. Again. The Bengals did a great job in the offseason with the Dexter Lawrence trade and attempting to overhaul their defense. They've been praised for it. They got fans' hopes up. But every time it looks like the Bengals have turned a corner in how they operate and gets everyone feeling good about them, they burn you. No apologies.The Bengals will trot coach Zac Taylor out during his regular Wednesday press conference to take all the bullets for the Tobin and the front office. I feel bad for Taylor, who's under a lot of pressure to win this season after three straight seasons of missing the playoffs. He should be solely focused on preparing for a tough, Sunday Night Football showdown against the AFC North-leading Pittsburgh Steelers.Taylor isn't the only front-facing person in the organization being put in a bad spot. How do you think Burrow feels? Guy puts himself out there in that Aug. 20 press conference, saying "this is it" for winning a Super Bowl. Now or never. There is no next year. Championship football or bust.Then the front office botches the trade deadline in epic fashion. And just in time for the biggest game of the season and the national TV cameras to come to town this Sunday.Now the pressure is really on Taylor and Burrow to produce a championship. Better beat the Steelers or things could go off the rails quickly.Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.comThis article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Bengals big week turns bad at NFL trade deadline | Williams