CINCINNATI -- The time has come for the Cincinnati Bengals to ask themselves an uncomfortable question.
Do we start exploring life after Mike Nugent?
It's a necessary and pertinent question to ask these days because Nugent -- the Bengals' 10-year veteran kicker who missed a game-winning field goal attempt in the closing seconds of Sunday afternoon's overtime tie with the Panthers -- has started making a trend of sailing kicks wide left and right.
He now has six missed field goals this season. The Detroit Lions, who have gone through a carousel of kickers this season, have missed 10.
What makes the question uncomfortable is the fact that he's a hometown hero of sorts. A native of Kettering, Ohio, a suburb of nearby Dayton, Nugent kept his talents in the Buckeye State when he went to college. After an All-America career at Ohio State, he was drafted in the second round by the New York Jets in 2005. It's quite uncommon for kickers and punters to be grabbed any earlier than the fourth or fifth round, so the fact he went that high was a testament to his play in college and the potential being projected for him.
It's also an uncomfortable question because Nugent is the definition of a well-loved, stand-up teammate. For nearly 10 minutes Sunday he spoke with reporters, breaking down the miss along with the rest of his choppy season when he didn't have to. Modern-day athletes regularly stiff-arm postgame interview requests when he or she didn't perform well. Nugent didn't do that. Come to think of it, he never really has.
All of this is to say that he isn't the kind of guy it would be easy to yank off the roster like many fans are currently pleading for the Bengals to do.
Still, that doesn't change the fact that the conversation needs to start taking place in Cincinnati.
But for now, it doesn't appear it will be had.
"He's just got to go back out there and kick it," coach Marvin Lewis said when asked after the game about bolstering Nugent's confidence. "He's just got to kick the football. Nobody feels worse than Mike."
The response echoed something Lewis said following Nugent's three-miss game last month against the Falcons.
"I know he'll be better next time out," Lewis said back then. "That's the one good thing about Mike. He's such a pro."
He is.
But this game isn't about how good of a pro a player is or what a stand-up guy he is with the media. It's about kicking. Pure and simple.
It's about makes and misses, preventing shanks and driving well-placed kickoffs that help the coverage team.
It's about coming through with the game on the line.
Sunday's miss came nearly one year to the day that Nugent drove home his last overtime game-winner. At Buffalo on Oct. 13 of last year, Nugent hit a 43-yarder that got the Bengals rolling. He was 3-for-3 on career overtime field goals before Sunday.
Nugent has shown this season -- and did early in Sunday's game, even -- that he can make field goals. But he's also showing a propensity for missing them. As the misses start stacking, eventually the Bengals are going to confront the issue.
For many away from Paul Brown Stadium, that exploration ought to lead the Bengals back to free agent Quinn Sharp, a young undrafted former Bengals backup who was cut at the end of preseason camp. He was only signed in the offseason to give the Bengals an extra camp leg to keep Nugent fresh. Despite that, Sharp showcased a booming leg, connecting on a pair of field goals including one from beyond 50 yards.
Nugent -- who has 9 career field goals from beyond 50 yards -- hasn't hit from that far yet this season.
Who knows if Sharp would be a good solution? For now, that isn't the question that most needs answering.
It's time Cincinnati starts focusing on asking the uncomfortable question: Can Nugent factor into its hopeful Super Bowl plans?
