The Cincinnati Bengals have been a professional football franchise for nearly 50 years. The Bengals came into existence in 1968 as an expansion franchise in the American Football League before joining the National Football League in 1970 during the merger. The Bengals were built under the watchful eye of Paul Brown who was their co-founder and first head coach. Brown coached the Bengals during their first eight seasons which was highlighted by three playoff appearances along with winning the first ever AFC Central Title in 1970. But under Brown, the Bengals were never able to win a playoff game which would be a harbinger of things to come years later for this franchise. When Brown retired from coaching in 1975 to concentrate on being the Bengals team president, he made a decision that would shape his franchise for years to come. Brown hand picked Bill “Tiger” Johnson to succeed him as the Bengals head coach over the young and upstart Bill Walsh. Johnson would resign midway through the 1978 National Football League season after the Bengals 0-5 start while Walsh would take over as the head coach the San Francisco 49ers in 1979 and he would lead them to three Super Bowl Championships with two of those victories coming over the Bengals.
On January 6, 1991, the Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Houston Oilers 41-14 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. And when the Bengals would go on to lose to the Los Angeles Raiders in the AFC Divisional Playoffs the following week, little did they know of the coming series of events that were waiting for them.
For the remainder of the 1990’s, the Bengals would not record a winning season which was highlighted by a slew of draft busts.
Marvin Lewis
Marvin Lewis would be hired as the Bengals head coach in 2003, and after a pair of 8-8 seasons, he would lead Cincinnati to the AFC North Title in 2005. But in the AFC Wild Card Game, Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer would suffer a torn ACL early in the first quarter and Cincinnati would lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Even it defeat that day it wasn’t looked at as a big thing for the Bengals as they were a young team and they would be back soon. After three subpar seasons, the Bengals would once again win the AFC North in 2009; only to lose to the New York Jets in the AFC Wild Card Game. After parting with Palmer after the 2010 National Football League season, the Bengals would draft quarterback Andy Dalton in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. Dalton became the Bengals starting quarterback from his first day on the job and he helped Cincy reach the postseason each season with him under center. But come January, the Bengals continued to be one-and-done in the postseason.
This season the Bengals began by winning their first eight games. The Bengals were winning close games against contenders such as the Steelers and Seattle Seahawks, and all of a sudden they didn’t appear to be the same old Bungles. The Bengals were 10-2 when they welcomed the Steelers to Cincinnati for a Week 14 contest as they were looking to wrap up the AFC North Title. In that game Dalton would suffer a broken thumb that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Dalton would be replaced by backup quarterback AJ McCarron who went 2-1 as a starter. The Bengals would finish the regular season with a record of 12-4 which would mark their best season since their last AFC Championship in 1988, but after a losing a Week 16 affair to the Denver Broncos, Cincinnati would miss out on earning a first-round bye,
With McCarron under center, the Bengals would find themselves hosting the Steelers this past Saturday night in the AFC Wild Card Game. For the first three quarters of the game, the Steelers would rack up yardage on offense, but they were only able to amass a 15-0 lead. The Bengals offense finally woke up in the fourth quarter. The Bengals would score 10 points to cut the deficit to five and they would get the football back with under four minutes left in the game. McCarron would lead the Bengals on a 45-yard drive that culminated when he found wide receiver A.J. Green for a 25-yard touchdown pass for their first lead of the night at 16-15 with just under two minutes remaining.
On the Steelers ensuing drive, backup quarterback Landry Jones was intercepted by Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict which actually spelled the beginning of the end for Cincinnati. Inexplicably, Burfict ran off of the field towards the Bengals locker room as if to say that the game was over. However the Steelers had all three of their timeouts remaining along with a plethora of time. And on the very next play, Bengals running back Jeremy Hill fumbled the football as he was stripped by Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier. The Steelers would regain possession of the football with an injured quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger leading them. Roethlisberger was attempting to drive the Steelers into field goal range for the potential game-winning score when he and Pittsburgh received a huge assist from the Bengals.
With 18 seconds remaining in the game, Burfict was flagged for a personal foul penalty for a hit to the helmet of Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown. The hit would then put the Steelers into field goal range and it would get worse for the Bengals when cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct foul. In all the Steelers were the beneficiaries of 30 yards without having to run a play due to the stupidity and selfishness of the Bengals. Steelers kicker Chris Boswell would connect on a 35-yard field goal which would send Pittsburgh to the AFC Divisional Playoffs while the Bengals were left to wallow in their own futility. And just when it appeared that the Bengals were ready to cast themselves out of their long and storied reputation of shooting themselves in the foot, they simply could not handle success.
There are some people that are calling for Lewis to be fired as he is now 0-7 in the playoffs as the Bengals head coach. And although that Bengals owner Mike Brown won’t fire Lewis, a new head coach wouldn’t make a difference in Cincinnati as there are issues within the organization.
Even when the Bengals were able to stop the losing that haunted them in the 1990’s, they were done in during the 2000’s by players who had character issues as this team would see a different player almost every week being arrested by law enforcement officials. It got so bad for the Bengals that National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell paid the team a visit to encourage them to get their act together as they were embarrassing the league. And even though that the Bengals continue to shed this image, it was once again on display when they lost to the Steelers.
The Bengals were flagged with several unsportsmanlike conduct penalties during their loss to the Steelers which scream of undisciplined football, and more than ever the month of January is where teams cannot have selfish players making selfish plays if they want to win.
Make no mistake about it that the Bengals arguably have one of the most talented teams in the National Football League, but they are lacking leadership on both sides of the ball along with having an owner in Brown that it isn’t fully committed to winning.
Led by Lewis, the Bengals will be back at it next season as they will be seeking their sixth consecutive playoff appearance while they are still searching for their first postseason victory since both the Rams and Raiders called Los Angeles home. But unless their is a culture change from within the Bengals organization that includes an overall concentration on winning, this will continue to be a team that will befuddle anyone who follows them.
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