Bengals are to blame for Burfict
Sunday night in Kansas City.
Or maybe apologizing for the fact the Bengals haven’t won a playoff game in Marvin Lewis’ tenure as coach, now in the 16th season.
That is the real travesty, not Burfict’s fine.
That fine isn’t even close to being enough.
As my colleague Ed Bouchette tweeted, Burfict’s cumulative fines aren’t even half of what Le’Veon Bell is giving up each week by refusing to sign the Steelers franchise tender. This latest fine hardly will change him. Burfict signed a three-year, $32.5 million extension with the Bengals after the 2016 season.
Burfict is a menace who tries to hurt people on the field. The NFL needs to care a lot more about player safety — not less — when it comes to dealing with him. I believe most fans would applaud that. Any clear-thinking person has to be sick of Burfict’s antics. The league told him he will be suspended for the next offense, according to Pro Football Talk. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Brown deserves blame for allowing Burfict to become a monster. He didn’t just give him that big contract. He has defended him at every turn, even after one of Burfict’s brutal hits knocked Antonio Brown out of a playoff game after the 2015 season and led to a Bengals loss to the Steelers. Burfict has been suspended at the start of each of the past three seasons — three games in 2016 for the hit on Brown, five games (reduced to three after an appeal) in 2017 for a hit on Kansas City fullback Anthony Sherman, and four games this season for performanceenhancing drugs. That is some track record.
Lewis also has enabled Burfict time after time. He spoke nonsense last week when asked about Burfict’s latest questionable hits against the Steelers.
“Everybody makes comments on everything No. 55 does. They don’t comment on anything anybody else does.” I wonder why. Why is everybody picking on No. 55?
Brown and Lewis should be ashamed of themselves for defending that creep.