After the 2004 Bengals season, I put out the word. Get your season tix now folks! We had a new coach who had lifted the team to relevancy, a flashy and talented wideout, and #1 draft pick at QB who had a cannon for an arm. These new Bengals were on a trajectory of inevitable dominance over not only the division, but the entire NFL. As childless 20-somethings it was time to lock in our allegiance and commit because the days of being able to buy single game tickets to The Jungle would soon be a thing of the past.
After galvanizing the troops, we embarked on an era of professional fandom in 2005. We rolled a dozen or so deep. We made an event of every gameday. We knew the team was special and worthy of our investment of time, money, and especially emotion. The whole city rallied behind this burgeoning team because it was clear that after sucking so bad for so long we had finally reached the promised land. My wife and I wore our wedding duds tailgating after having been wed for 12 hours. TJ Houshmanzadeh shined his cleats with that ugly terrible towel upon beating Pittsburgh, and that very night Chris Henry got arrested for a celebratory DUI. They'd beaten the Steelers and taken control of the division, but it felt like they'd won the Super Bowl. Jubilation was excused because: a)It had been so long since the Bengals had shown any sense of prowess that we deserved to enjoy it and b)Victories against the Steelers, clinching the division, etc. were all just signs of great thing to come.
We were celebrating not just the present, but the future of a juggernaut of a team with dynastic aspirations. The Patriots sucked forever before Brady-remember?
We went up to Detroit in mid-December to witness what would be the division-clinching win over a Lions. Since this was where Super Bowl XL would be played, we told the stadium staff to keep our seats warm because we'd be back in 6 short weeks.
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| Winning the AFCN was a very big deal |
Spirits were still high as the city prepared to host divisional nemesis Pittsburgh for the 3rd time. I'll never forget the famous Cincinnati hat sign guy (RIP) showing up to that Friday's Who Dey pep rally with a sign du jour that read: 'Excel at everything you do, and win Super Bowl XL!'Our optimism and hope as a city was unbridled. We all know what transpired on the field of Paul Brown Stadium that fatefully gorgeous January day. It was a stab in the heart as invading Steeler fans waved those towels as our franchise QB was carted off the field. That jubilant afternoon in Detroit would be the last game they won that year. The ultimate insult happened a few weeks later when the Steelers won the Super Bowl.
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| Never Forget |
The deep sense of injustice that pervaded that off-season was hard to overstate. We'd have won the whole thing obviously. Even though we retained an offense with a 7th grade level of complexity. Even though Carson Palmer was a statue in the pocket and we rarely won when a team got consistent pressure on him. Even though the bend-don't break defense that feasted on turnovers was predicated on an offense that scored explosively and was generally lousy at rushing the passer and getting off the field. Even though the team in general seemed to show up flat in the biggest games. Even though there were some major warning signs, we assumed that a Super Bowl berth was still in the offing.
In 2006 we bought our Who Dey van and soldiered on as professional fans. Those crisp game day mornings of seeing the sunrise over PBS as we crossed the Clay Wade Bailey bridge were amazing. For the next 5 years, the feeling was that we were rife with optimism. Carson and Marvin would figure a way to put it all together and restore the team and the city to that fever pitch of excitement and proficiency that was palpable throughout the 2005 season.
Alas, that success never came to pass. In those 5 years, the Bengals made the playoffs only one more time and lose to the Jets team that they'd lost to the week before. It was an era replete with woulda coulda moments--bad snaps, questionable calls, freakish plays, you name it. Not that the Bengals weren't endearing or fun to watch. They had their moments, but the Carson & Chad era would be ultimately known for its disappointments and its failure to ever realize the hopes that Marvin Lewis heralded when he raised us to relevancy.
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| We brought it every week no matter what. |
The addition of Terrell Owens looked like the move that would give the offense a needed boost and bring the passing attack on par with the running game and defense. In reality, it was a last gasp that showed how cobbled together and out of synch the entire team had become. In 2010 Carson Palmer quit on the team in a flurry of bad play before officially quitting on the team by demanding a trade. At the Tampa game in October of that year, multiple late game interceptions that gave the game away led my buddy to throw his #9 jersey in the trash on his way out. After that season, my wife made us ditch our tix and she sold the van for $100.
The Dalton reboot yielded an era of consistency and numerous playoff berths (and exits). While the Bengals weren't embarrassing, we knew they had a ceiling. We were not going to expect too much of the Bengals moving forward. Our aspirations, even after double-digit win seasons, were muted whether we admitted it or not. For as able as Andy Dalton was, we constantly sought reassurance that EVEN Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson were Super Bowl winning QBs. Andy Dalton would not be.
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| The all-too-common look of bewilderment |
In April of 2020, the world grappled with the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everything had turned upside down and anything involved humans congregating had instantly been taken away. This included all sports. At a time when we all craved a shred of normalcy, the NFL draft gave us that. Via Zoom calls, the teams of the league picked their next crop of players, with our woeful Bengals picking #1. It was cathartic just to get to watch highlight clips and imagine a future that included games taking place. As Bengal fans, we relished the pick of Joe Burrow with messianic fervor. He had ability, swagger, and was from Athens County, OH. He wasn't an over-talented SoCal brat or a mega-church Mr. Nice Guy from suburban Texas. Carson and Andy were fine--But Joe Burrow oozed the gritty baddassery that we's always envied in elite QBs. We weren't quite sure how much was the eternal optimism of the downtrodden, how much was pandemic fatigue, and how much was warranted joy-but we were pumped up nonetheless.
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| We were all excited to draft Joe B |
We wouldn't let ourselves get too excited though. By all rights, this team wasn't that great and the n00b of a head coach was hardly the next Belichick. Plus, maybe Jow would pull an Eli Manning and refuse to come to our generationally dysfunctional franchise? We'd wait and see. We'd let them (and Joe) show us. We weren't going to book Super Bowl rooms or record rap songs with Bootsy Collins any time soon. 
As the 2021 season has played out, I can't help but think how these guys are the manifestation of what the Carson years were supposed to be.
This team is the one we always wanted, but never got. The focused, game by game perspective of the team seems to be shred by the fans as well. The 2015 Bengals went 12-4 yet melted down in a pile of undisciplined emotion to their arch-nemesis in the playoffs. The 2021 team came back from 3 TDs down to win in prime time, took the Packers down to the wire, abused the Steelers like they were their dad (twice), got Baltimore's D-coordinator fired, and beat the reigning AFC champs. Sure they only had 10 regular season wins, but after 2 dramatic playoff wins all of a sudden we're 2 wins away from parades, tattoos, and Mike Brown hoisting the Lombardi Trophy on Fountain Square.
The road to the promised land is rarely a smooth trajectory. For the Bengals it took a decade and a half and massive organizational shifts to get from respectable to truly relevant. But here we are, we finally have a unified team that is solid in all 3 phases, espouses a winning culture, and has a QB who thrives under pressure and absolutely hates to lose. The coaches have formulated game plans and make adjustments. The players want to win, even if it means blocking or running convincing routes-knowing the ball's not coming their way.
So let's enjoy it. This is the way it was always supposed to be. The Cincinnati Bengals are playing in the Super Bowl. Who Dey.
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