Super Bowl Cincinnati Tigers vs Los Angeles Rams Championship game is on the verge of breaking out,
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2.7-2.16 100 minus every 500 full time,
Cheer on your favourite team!
A few days ago, the Tigers defeated the Chiefs led by elite quarterback "Little Margo" Mahoms under the leadership of second-year quarterback Joe Burrow, and re-entered the Super Bowl after 33 years. But don't forget, 2 seasons ago, they were a misguided fishy team with the lowest record in the league. So what happened in the last two years to transform a Fish Belly team into a Super Bowl team? Xiaobian will take you back to the reconstruction process of the tiger.
Rookie coach's fish belly season
Time back to this time 3 years ago. On February 4, 2019, the Tigers appointed former Rams quarterback coach, with Zack Taylor, then 36, as the head coach. Subsequently, in the draft two months later, they selected Jonah Williams from the University of Alabama in the first round of the No. 11 pick to protect the team's main quarterback Aty Dalton. The star players in the team at the time also included veteran defensive interceptors, 31-year-old Gino Atkins. Another star player, AJ Green, also 31-year-old, suffered a season-reimbursed injury at training camp.
But, unfortunately, this season's Tigers have been very bad. Although Dalton passed a career-high 418 yards in the first week, he passed out 7 touchdowns and 8 interceptions in the following 7 games, leading the team to a wave of 8 consecutive losses, allowing the team to directly sit at the bottom of the league. Unable to bear it, Taylor decided to put Dalton on the bench and make Ryan Finley, the 4th round show of the year, the starter. However, Finley was not able to lead the team to victory, and the team continued to lose consecutively. In desperation, Taylor put Dalton back on the starting line-up, but he only won 2 games for the team, and even played a bad performance of 4 interceptions in a single game against the Patriots.
In the end, the 2019 Tigers ended the season with a 2-14 record, and Xi Tiyuan signed and set the worst record in team history. The only happy thing is that the team's second-year running back Joe Mixon completed the thousand-yard season, and rookie security guard Jesse Bates also performed well, giving the team some hope of revival. Taylor and the team's uniform group were also determined to use the lottery to select a quarterback who could change the team.
The Chosen Son came to Cincinnati
Although the Tigers played their worst season in team history in 2019, there are "tigers" who rejoice and "tigers" that are worried, and one tiger in the South that is roaring, that is, the Louisiana State University Tigers (hereinafter referred to as LSU). Transfer senior Joe Burrow led LSU to the most perfect personal data in college history, passing 5671 yards in 15 games in a single season, completing 60 touchdowns, and only 6 interceptions throughout the year. His excellent performance also allowed him to lead LSU to a perfect season of total victory and national championship. Burrow also won the university's highest honor, the Heisman Award, with a super high vote rate of 93.80% of the previously unprecedented.
But despite playing a perfect season in college, doubts about Burrow's ability to adapt to the NFL remain. The first to bear the brunt was his hand, which was only 9 inches in size (the distance from the thumb to the little finger was less than 23 centimeters), the same as the 2016 champion Jared Gough, and there were fears that Boro would suffer similar problems with dropping the ball. Another concern is Burrow's age. As a redshirted senior, Burrow was nearly 23 and a half years old at the time of the draft, and Lamar Jackson, who was a month younger than him, had already won the MVP in the NFL, but Burrow was still in the draft, which also made people doubt his ceiling.
But when there's such a good quarterback in front of your eyes, missing him is sure to make you regret it. What's more, Burrow's hometown is in Athens, Ohio, just a 2-hour drive from Cincinnati. Therefore, the Tigers resolutely chose Burrow with a large number of signs, firmly believing that the local quarterback could become the face of the team. The team also parted ways with multi-year starting quarterback Dalton during this offseason. In the second and third rounds, the Tigers did not drop the chain, and selected the big external Thikins and the potential linebacker Logan Wilson.
The rookie season that ended with injuries
However, the 2020 season, which ushered in the Favorite Quarterback Tigers, was not smooth. Despite passing more than 300 yards in five of their first seven NFL games, the Tigers' record is only 1-5-1, and their chances of reaching the playoffs are slim. What is even more embarrassing is that the team's veteran receiver AJ Green quickly declined, while running back Joe Mixon also suffered a career low, and the Tigers' record is still at the bottom in the American League North, where strong opponents are gathered.
In week 11 of the season, the last thing Tigers fans want to see came. Burrow was shot in a game against the Washington football team, fell to the ground, and left the course in a golf course. After the game, the Tigers announced a torn anterior cruciate ligament in Burrow's left knee, a torn medial collateral ligament, and some posterior cruciate ligament injuries and meniscus injuries. This injury left Boro's left knee injured almost everything that could be injured.
This season, the Tigers only finished at the bottom of the Us North with a record of 4-11-1, and also won the No. 5 pick for the 2021 draft.
(To be continued)
Until this time, the tiger's prospects were still dim
So how did they rise after that?
Tomorrow we will reveal together!