Fresh Finley to change Bengals fortunes?

With nine seasons under his belt as a quarterback with the Cincinnati Bengals, Andy Dalton after this weekend's bye week will be dropped as the Bengals look in a new direction by starting rookie quarterback Ryan Finley. A bold move by first-year head coach Zac Taylor but a necessary one if the Bengals are going to have any chance of breaking an upsetting eight-game losing streak this season.

The newly benched Andy Dalton.

The winless Bengals have only lost four games by fine margins against Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills, Arizona Cardinals and Baltimore Ravens. But have been blown out by the undefeated San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars and in the most recent memory last weekend's penultimate NFL London Series game which saw the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Bengals 24-10 at Wembley stadium. So, what is the solution for the Bengals? It seems that a change in quarterback is a refreshing move to what has been a stale franchise in recent memory. In Dalton's career, he has only taken Cincinnati to the postseason four times, failing each time to reach a divisional or AFC championship game. Admittedly benching Dalton for the upcoming week 10 game against Baltimore Ravens, will not provide a solution to be able to reach the brass ring of the NFL playoff picture.

At this current record, and with an exceeding expectations Baltimore team, an average Cleveland Browns team and a poor Pittsburgh Steelers team hopes of proceeding after the AFC North division is virtually impossible at this point. So what good will it do for Taylor to start rookie quarterback Ryan Finley? Firstly, if Finley was to exceed expectations in the remaining Bengals games, this would surely be seen as a stroke of genius from the brand new head coach, and may even move him off the fiery flames of the hot seat he is currently in. Secondly, why not start him? This is now a season for Cincinnati where they have nothing to lose. And with so many young quarterbacks now excelling in the NFL, now is the time to start experimenting at that position and trying to figure out what the future may hold for this troubled franchise. Ryan was drafted in this year's NFL draft in April in the 4th round, meaning nobody thought he would succeed or even start in the NFL. Quarterbacks that go that low in the draft outside of names like Dak Prescott are not in all likelihood going to get a long successful NFL career.

So will it work? Unlikely, but it has created a buzz around the team that the last 8 weeks have been lacking enormously.

Signing off,

Freddie Hall.