Last week, Carson Palmer told Damon Amendolara that the Cincinnati Bengals never really tried to win a Super Bowl during his tenure. Perhaps that shouldn't be a surprise. Palmer, the No. 1 overall pick in 2003, was advised not to play for Cincinnati, and there are rumblings that Joe Burrow is being told the same.
Solomon Wilcots, who also played for the Bengals from 1987 to 1990, believes Burrow needs to be warned about what he’s walking into.
“Absolutely,” the Pro Football Focus analyst said on The DA Show. “I was 100 percent behind Carson. I watched as it sucked the life out of him. I watched fans in Cincinnati dump garbage on his home, on his lawn. I watched how others abdicated and tried to force the leadership onto him when he wasn’t given support to corral some of the loud-natured individuals that surrounded him. Carson Palmer was a guy who was strong-willed, talented and needed more around him. He needed more support around him. When it didn’t change, he walked away from the game because the love for the game had left him – and that’s a shame. Organizations need to be weary of that. One man in a bad environment cannot turn it around by himself. I can just flat out tell you that.”
Wilcots said it’s no accident that Peyton Manning and Eli Manning played for stable organizations. Archie Manning made sure of it.
“Archie understood that having played in New Orleans, and Peyton understood it and knew how to do it,” Wilcots said. “He had guys like Tom Moore and Tony Dungy that allowed it to happen, and he brought them a championship. I think Joe Burrow has to be equally dialed in here in Cincinnati.”
Wilcots, 55, does not believe Burrow should try to force his way out of Cincinnati.
“No, because you know why? I’m the kind of guy – when I went to the University of Colorado, I thought we could win a championship and I helped to recruit guys from Los Angeles who I had [grown up with],” Wilcots said. “Eric Bieniemy was one of them. We turned it around and won a championship in 1990 after I left. If Joe Burrow wants to be special, he’s from Ohio, his girlfriend lives right here in Cincinnati – he can get it done. But boy, I’m going to tell you right now he’s got to be willing to go through the fire to get that done.”
The Bengals have missed the playoffs four years in a row and have not won a playoff game since 1990.