That's exactly correct. It is a brilliant unintentional mock. The Bengals were very competitive early season. They should have won at Seattle opening week, on the same day we were humiliated by the Ravens. There are many talented players on that roster.
But once frustration set in and they benched Andy Dalton now it is a dream tank because fans across the country have a lower opinion of Dalton than proper, and don't blame Cincinnati for benching him. Meanwhile the drop off to Ryan Finley is cavernous. How many points is he going to put on the board? That is always the issue with rookie quarterbacks and especially non-elite ones who are shuffled into the lineup later in the season. It doesn't matter what it looks like in regard to the opponent. That rookie quarterback simply isn't going to put up many points. The team needs turnovers and field position and countless breaks to enable more points than logical.
The Bengals will probably put forth a great effort at least once of twice over the remainder of the season, determined to avoid the winless season. Then it's a matter of whether or not Finley manages occasional touchdowns in those games.
Yesterday at Oakland was a perfect example of the deficit from Dalton to Finley. With Andy Dalton the Bengals probably win that game. Cincinnati was very motivated as a winless road team obviously coming off a loss. The home opponent was not much, and not fully motivated playing a winless team. Throughout that game I tried to root for the Bengals but realized it was hopeless with Finley out there. He was completing far less than 50% of his passes and fewer than 4 YPA.
I don't think fans in general have any sense of that drop off from Dalton to Finley. There is no such thing as going on a run with Ryan Finley.