This is turning out to be an interesting offseason for the Cincinnati Bengals. After missing the playoffs and watching half the roster limp through last season, you’d think the team would come out swinging. But the latest out of Paycor Stadium? Feels more like a shrug than a statement. We’ve got Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson. They’re not built for patience; they’re built to win.

So when Zac Taylor stepped up and shared a rather interesting outlook on the training camp—a very cautious outlook, you could say. The change? It’s not about new playbooks or fancy new equipment. It’s something that feels minor on paper, but would scream consequences when it’s time for September football, and the fans are not too happy about it.

HC Zac Taylor revealed that the Bengals won’t be doing joint practices with another team during the training camp and the entire offseason. It’s a departure from what they’ve leaned into over the past couple of years, doing two practices with the Chicago Bears and one with the Indianapolis Colts in 2024. As for 2023, they held one joint practice with the Packers. So why the change? Two reasons.

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“This was a year we decided we were just going to focus on ourselves,” Taylor revealed. It sounds like a safe, or well, an introspective plan on paper. But after missing the playoffs last season, and with Joe Burrow finally back to his best, the expectation was for them to push the envelope, not play it safe. Yes, it means more in-house control and lower risk of injuries, but it’s hard to build rhythm when you’re only dancing with yourself.

The second reason was the schedule. “We play Philly pretty quick (Aug. 7) and then we’ve got a long break before playing Washington (Aug. 18). We’re going to get six great full padded practices between the Philly game and the Washington game with no distractions, just us going against each other making sure we’re improving on the things we need to improve on. We didn’t even do the (practices) for the tail end of that week, so that we can make those decisions when we get into camp on what we’re going to do and what we’re going to emphasise,” Taylor said.

When you deep it, you’ll start to make a little sense out of this decision. There was a change in the coaching roster, too, particularly the arrival of the new defensive coordinator, Al Golden. Amidst the coaching changes and key players returning from injury, it might seem fair if Taylor wants to focus internally without showing much to another team. There are clearly two sides to this decision. The question is, are there more pros than cons to it, or is it the other way around? The fans seem to think it is the latter.

Let’s shift our focus from the training field to the training room. Something is brewing up inside their walls (literally)—and it starts with four bold letters painted across a bright orange training room wall. Let’s just say, it’s not what you’d expect to see in the training room of an NFL franchise. Well, it’s not what you’d expect to see anywhere.

For years, we’ve seen all kinds of cold locker room mantras—”Do Your Job, Finish The Fight, All In” and many more. But for the Bengals fans, they’ve been blessed (or cursed, rather) with something truly…unique. Well, not in a good way. So when you’d walk up to the Bengals’ training room (which we hope you don’t), you’d see, in black bold letters against the orange backdrop—”A Bengal is P.H.A.T. — Physical. Hungry. Accountable. Teammate. Who will give their all to get the job done.” Which they proudly declare. We’re sure this is a lot worse than you imagined.

The fans are making their feelings known about the slogan

The fans on X obviously could not help themselves. One fan commented, “Yeaahhh, there’s some things that NEED to be kept in house 😂😂😂😂.” There’s one thing to put up that mantra in big black letters, but to put it out there for the world to see? That’s a risky affair. You have to do everything you possibly can to keep that in the house.

Another made a rather remarkable suggestion. He commented, “‘Bengals are on a P.A.T.H.’ was RIGHT there.” We can’t help but agree. That is MUCH better. Someone make him the branding consultant of the Bengals.

One fan tried to make himself feel better by convincing himself that this mantra is the reason why Shemar Stewart didn’t want to sign his rookie deal. He remarked, “yeah I get why dude ain’t wanna sign his rookie deal now.” This is obviously not the reason for him not to sign the deal, but going to training every day and seeing P.H.A.T. written in front of you while you lift hundreds of pounds probably did not help.

One went as far back as the 90s, when PHAT meant something else entirely. “That meant something else in the 90s. 😂” Back in the 90s, Phat was a slang used to describe something as cool, excellent, or awesome. Well, we don’t think the Bengals had that in mind when they put this up. This is an entirely different PHAT.

Lastly, a fan simply couldn’t believe his eyes. We couldn’t either. He remarked, “This has to be AI.” Let’s be honest, we all thought it was initially (or at least, hoped that it was). But no, this is for real. And every player on the roster would see those letters before he prepares himself to lift. That’d be interesting. Do you think the team would take the slogan down, considering the backlash?