A Thaw in Cincinnati

Fandom. It can be such a weird thing, especially when it isn't centered on the hometown team. Using myself as example number-one, I never cottoned to the hometown Bears. In contrast to the era's Cubs, Bulls and Blackhawks, they were bad, boring and backwards.

(I should add that all these years later, those words still apply.)

Which is why I strayed. I was searching for a football team team worthy of my earnest. wide-eyed devotion. As it happened, the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs simultaneously caught my interest. I loved the color scheme of the Cowboys' uniforms and the talent which inhabited both rosters.

But the Chiefs I idolized in Super Bowl IV faded just as the Cowboys were entering the brightest era of their existence—the seventies. Not so surprisingly, the Cowboys gained the upper hand.

The Chiefs battled back just as the Cowboys were likewise being renewed under Jimmy Johnson, albeit without the postseason success. To quote Albert King, Marty Schottenheimer was born under a bad sign.

God rest his soul.

In the interim, another team had inserted itself into my nascent fandom. An expansion team with very little in the way of pedigree aside from the fact its owner—Paul Brown—founded the Cleveland Browns. I speak of the Cincinnati Bengals.

It's not widely remembered, but the nineteen-eighties Bengals gave the Joe Montana-era 49ers the stiffest challenges of any of their Super Bowl adversaries. Twice.

The Ken Anderson-led 1981 edition required the 49ers make two fourth-quarter field goals to maintain a tenuous and fragile lead, while the 1988 Boomer Esiason-led version demanded a last-minute pass from Montana to John Taylor to secure a 49er victory.

Think the high-profile Miami Dolphins of Dan Marino or Denver Broncos of John Elway came close to doing the same?

Nope.

So, yeah. I became a fan. Despite their small-market status they consistently won. And they drafted well. To wit, James Brooks. David Fulcher. Issac Curtis. Ken Riley. Anthony Munoz. Chris Collinsworth. Max Montoya.

But they declined after the 1988 Super Bowl. And for a long time. Relief didn't arrive until 2003 in the form of first-round draft pick QB Carson Palmer, who helped resurrect the franchise and returned them to the post-season in 2005.

Alas, only a pair of wild card appearances were the result.

Sustained success came in the person of Andy Dalton. Paired with wide receivers A.J. Green and Chad Johnson, the Bengals visited the post-season five-years in a row. Sadly, all were as wild-card entrants, culminating in an excruciating 18-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in January of 2016.

With another generation waived, traded or otherwise put out to pasture, the Bengals floundered. To the point they were awarded the number-one overall pick in an NFL draft. With that pick, they selected LSU QB Joe Burrow, who has single-handedly ignited a franchise turnaround.

To wit, the Bengals won their first post-season game in thirty-one years Saturday. They appear unfazed at finding themselves in the post-season so quickly and already possess a potent QB-WR combo in Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase.

(Whatever their success, the Bengals can at least draft and develop high-quality quarterbacks with a regularity unknown to Bears fans.) 

Along with the fresh-faced Bengals are the inspired Buffalo Bills, who destroyed their long-time nemesis from New England and looked as seamless, as perfect as any playoff team I've ever seen.

With upcoming divisional round contests like Bengals versus Titans and Bills versus Chiefs and 49ers versus Packers, I almost wish I had my cable back.