This was originally published in The Athletic.
I know Iām painting with an Andrew Billings-sized brush here, but man, Bengals fans have a weird thing for Hue Jackson, donāt they?
I mean, yes, by all accounts Hue did fine work here, including two seasons as a successful offensive coordinator before leaving to captain a rudderless ship coach the Browns in 2016.
But letās be real, if we told the story of recent Bengals history, Jacksonās contributions to the club would warrant a footnote more than entire chapter. He was a valuable assistant, but when he bolted for Cleveland, I didnāt quite feel like this was the 20th Century version of Paul Brown passing on Bill Walsh, either. I didnāt totally get the infatuation with Jackson then, and after two and a half years of watching him become northeast Ohioās version of Tiger Johnson, Iām a little puzzled by the infatuation Bengals and fans ā and maybe, the people running the Bengals themselves ā have with Hue now.
Itās an infatuation that kicked into hyper-drive yesterday when the Browns fired Hue, a mercy killing that was equal parts overdue and unjust. Overdue because the writing seemed on the wall when John Dorsey became Clevelandās GM after last seasonās 0-16 debacle, and unjust because Hue never really had a fair chance to be completely judged by wins and losses. Maybe no other coach wouldāve had a winless season up there, but no human being alive wouldāve managed a winning season either. His dismissal, though, has many speculating that heāll come crawling back again to work for the Bengals.
To read the entire piece, go to The Athletic.