Bengals 2015

I only write about this so I can put to rest the superstition that the Cincinnati Bengals are a cursed team. It’s been 1991 since they last won a playoff game. The previous day’s game Kansas City Chiefs, a team that had won 10 straight games to get their playoff demolished the Houston Texans. A team the Bengals constantly struggle against (or just Andy Dalton, who knows). So, winning in the playoffs for a jabroni team, isn’t unmanageable. Just to us it is.

On a rain soaked Saturday night (yep…under lights, more superstition) the Bengals let slip a two point lead due to dumb penalties by one individual that wanted revenge rather what was good for the team. In the play, Steelers’ quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, a guy who earlier went out with a bad shoulder, let a ball sail through the middle (with less than a minute to go) went high and through the hands of receiver Antonio Brown. Incomplete. But that’s when you saw it. A massive guy in orange and black stripe flash by…WHAM! Shoulder went directly into the face mask and neck of Brown and snapped his neck like a ragdoll. It was violent in a way…I don’t think they should replay. Vontaze Burfict, a linebacker for the Bengals was standing over Brown’s lifeless body…damage done. Now to get an idea of what we had just witnessed. Rewind 1 minute 46 seconds earlier.

Burfict was standing middle linebacker position when Landry Jones (filling in for Ben Roethlisberger at the time) chucked one down the center and was intercepted by Burfict. Yep, the same dude who shouldered into a receiver was a hero a few seconds earlier. This led to another possession by the Bengals for which (and if you believe in curses here we go) Jeremy Hill fumbled. When the Steelers recovered, my guess is…my city collectively put our hands up “here we are again.”

The pain is palpable. But not the way you think. It’s painful because it was done by our hate rivals, at night, in the first round of the playoffs (as Steelers snuck into the game when the Bills beat the Jets…wouldn’t have been easier losing to the Jets either, but a less chippy scenario).

A TON was said about our drought. The last time we won a playoff game, I had my learner’s permit and still in high school (I’m 40 now). This is the futility of this team that always seems to be in the wrong end of the great teams. We can’t get out of our own way.

Having replayed the game in my head, the moment Burfict had picked off that ball…there were already champagne bottles being popped. Because we don’t know how to win in THAT way. With discipline. No matter what excuses we make, the clock still had time, and business is still business. Patriots would never dream of that silliness. Bengals seem to have it in our DNA. Somehow, we just can’t win when we want to. The replay in my head was all of a sudden clear. The Steelers were resigned to the loss. You could see it in them. They were done and wanted to get out of the rain. They were going to put in an effort, but having one more possession down by their own 10 yard line, three timeouts and too much yardage to cover…they were done. So what happened? Bengals beat themselves. Again. All they had to do was to remain…composed. What got in their heads (I imagine) was the same thing the city and its people know…we have a loser’s mentality and we are about to let someone else prove it again. And this time IT’S THE STEELERS! The team panicked. You watch the last two minutes again, the Bengals thugged and bullied themselves into that loss. It reminded me of a child who throws a tantrum, and midway through, the parent had gathered them up and put them in the crib. Because they were too busy throwing a tantrum. Steelers simply stepped out of the way for Bengals to do what they usually do. They gambled on our history.

I say this because the stories will continue…this is a historical low for a Bengals team that couldn’t get any lower. It’s a shame that the only legacy this team leaves is that we recruit so many great players only to lose them to teams we watch from the sidelines as they climb the ladder past us.

This loss stings the worst because it meant so much faith. The type of faith that resonated when I was 12 years old, watching Steve Young, quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers in 1988 Super Bowl), beat the Bengals with…1 minute 36 seconds on the clock. My resigned mind says that the game shouldn’t be decided by officiating (which it did) also realizes…the Rolls Royce was running and the keys handed to you, but you pound a liter of scotch and get behind the wheel. In other words, bad decisions collectively lead to disaster.

I wanted this win. But not for me. For the city of Cincinnati, who desperately needs…hope and faith. Pittsburgh does too. We’re very much alike. Working class stiffs. I know it’s dumb to spend so much time caring about something that doesn’t pay you. So with this blog, I close the book on 2015 Bengals. I am proud of the glimpse of winning. We shouldn’t hang our heads so low we don’t see the potential. To my surprise, there is massive talent there. We found them on a heap somewhere out there, so it can be done. To the players who put themselves on that field for our entertainment, I am thankful I had something to keep my mind occupied throughout autumn and winter. It’s been a fantastic journey with (strange to say) younger men than I who play a kids game as a diversion.