Chad Johnson

They love him because he's a clown and he gives them good quotes. Whether he's actually wrecking the team, they have no clue and don't care so long as he keeps filling their notebooks. Every one of them got hammered on the playoff game halftime story, and when Lewis ripped the team to shreds for selfishness after this year's NE game and the national media pointed out where the selfishness was coming from, a local TV producer set up Lewis to defend (and continue enabling) Johnson by asking this really hard-hitting question: Is it fair to put all the blame on Johnson?
Oh, yeah.

 

I'll throw my two cents in: #85 isn't going to be traded, and the problem isn't on Johnson and Palmer. This team overall is not good this year. Chris Henry just returned to the team, but he can't play for another several weeks with his suspension.

For Cincy, it was a matter of "win now, and suffer the consequences while doing it" or "build a winner with character players." The latter never worked. Trying to build a winner in Cincinnati is like mixing oil and water, or establishing a dialogue between blacks and whites in Cincy, which is one racial incident from going up in flames everytime.

In the process, the Bengals took the risk of bringing in gifted players with questionable pasts to make an impact on the team. Johnson's antics is consistent: if they win, he clowns around; if they lose, he gets pissed and fustrated. He's a hero and a villian in one swing.