LOS ANGELES — The guy who built the Bengals would dispute he’s responsible for it. He wasn’t on the podium after Cincinnati won the AFC championship. He was on the coaches’ headset during the game, but only to listen. He basically operates as the team’s general manager, if only he cared about having the title.
He could use all of this to become visible, yet is totally fine being able to walk clear through the concourse at Paul Brown Stadium on game day without a single fan stopping him.
Duke Tobin built the Marvin Lewis Bengals into a team that went to the playoffs five straight years, survived Lewis’s departure and has built an even better team for Zac Taylor—one that’s arriving here in California two days from now for its first Super Bowl in 33 years. His fingerprints are all over a rebuild that’s been total—punter Kevin Huber, snapper Clark Harris and tight end C.J. Uzomah are the only ones left from Lewis’s last playoff team.
Just don’t tell him that.
To Tobin, what’s been a three-year facelift isn’t a tribute to him. It’s a tribute to everyone.
And most especially the six-man scouting staff he captains, easily the NFL’s smallest.
“With a small organization, the No. 1 thing we want them to have is pride in their work and a belief that what they’re doing at Texas State that day truly matters,” Tobin said Friday, from his office. “And it does truly matter because they’re our eyes there. So when a guy is at a place, he doesn’t feel like it’s redundant. He feels like, ‘Alright, the organization is relying on me to be good today.’ And there’s a tremendous amount of pride that comes with that.”
You’ll hear a lot of remarkable stories this week, of individual players, coaches and staff who overcame a lot to land a Feb. 13 date at SoFi Stadium, all of them worthy.
But when it comes to team-building there may not be a better one than what Tobin and his staff have consistently done for a small-market, small-budget franchise. It’s the anthesis of what the forward-thinking, envelope-pushing Rams are. Cincinnati’s decidedly old school, and Tobin won’t apologize for it. Because just as his way, the Bengals’ way, built an annual contender around Andy Dalton, it’s now built a burgeoning champion around Joe Burrow.
Since 2011, only five teams—the Packers, Seahawks, Steelers, Patriots and Chiefs—have been in the postseason more consistently than Cincinnati. So that the Bengals are here? Yes, that’s a surprise. Again, it’s been 33 years. But that they’re in the running shouldn’t be.
Maybe, eventually, someone can get Tobin to take a bow for it.
