As I write this, it’s exactly 1:50 p.m. Hawaii time on Saturday, Feb. 12.
It’s just about 24 hours away from the kickoff of Super Bowl 56 and some people will not believe the following statement, but I’ve got to write it down for the record anyway. I’ve built a steadfast belief in the Cincinnati Bengals since opening day and I find it amazing that they will be playing in the Super Bowl against the Los Angeles Rams tomorrow.
For me, it is a story about faith, perhaps analogous to a deeper faith, say, one in which we put trust in our maker.
But, don’t you worry, I’m not going to get into the nuts and bolts of whether one believes in God or not. This is more about believing in things and seeing the fruit of it, and that is something that can happen at the human level and also at a higher, spiritual level.
But, ahhhhh, will the Bengals win the game and become, what seemed — at the beginning of the year at least — unlikely Super Bowl champions?
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Well, it’s Monday afternoon now and everyone knows that things didn’t turn out for the Bengals in terms of the final score: Los Angeles Rams 23, Cincinnati Bengals 20.
A SEPTEMBER TRIP TO THE HEARTLAND
Me and my son Elijah’s interest in the Bengals started with my trip to Dayton, Ohio, to see him in early September, when he was working there temporarily. With a free weekend and the Bengals at home in nearby Cincinnati, we went to see them host the Minnesota Vikings for the season opener that Sunday. It was Elijah’s FIRST NFL game and my FIRST since 1983.
After getting tickets online and driving the 50-some miles, we saw the Bengals look mighty impressive in squeezing out a 27-24 overtime victory. What really impressed me at the time were a hugely effective pass rush, Joe Mixon’s running and Joe Burrow’s steady hand and leadership ability in crunch time at quarterback.
The next day, I wrote about that game and the fantastic father-son adventure for Bedrock Sports Hawaii, and you can read it here: Aloha From The Jungle: Who Dey Gonna Beat Dem Bengals? In that article, I wrote that I would be keeping my eye on the Bengals this season and that — at least from these eyes — it looked like they had the real potential to be very good. Still, I had NO IDEA they would be good enough to get to the Super Bowl THIS YEAR.
Me and Elijah eating Bengals cookies that were given to him by a co-worker in Dayton, Ohio. At bottom, the fan in a Bengals jersey in front of Paul Brown Stadium and the rest of the world probably didn’t think Cincinnati would be in the Super Bowl five months later.
Sure enough, I kept my promise to keep an eye on the Bengals and saw a very inspired bunch of players throughout the whole season. While watching the televised games or the full highlights on YouTube, it was evident that they were definitely really good and that their winning ways were not a fluke.
Those winning ways came with a big enough dose of losing, though, so there were moments where I wondered if the Bengals really had the chutzpah to go far.
A very telling game was a 25-22 overtime loss to Green Bay on national TV. They were in it all the way and both teams blew chances to win. Had the Bengals prevailed, they would have been 4-1 instead of a much-more mediocre sounding 3-2.
TOUGHING IT OUT THROUGH SOME BAD LOSSES
A few weeks later, though, a couple of head-scratching losses to the New York Jets (34-31) and the Cleveland Browns (41-16) put a bit of panic into the belief that the Bengals were a team going places — since they were sitting there amid a jumbled AFC North race at 5-4.
Fortunately — and this was the biggest sign that Cincinnati was for real and not that same ol’ middle-of-the-pack OR WORSE bunch — the Bengals wound up going 4-0 against division rivals Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Any sort of stumble there would have been devastating.
Week 12 was the last really low ebb for the Bengals, when they were done in by Justin Herbert and the San Diego Chargers, 41-22. Not only did their 7-5 record have that “mediocre” stamp on it, but a graphic displayed by one of the networks made things look awfully bad. I forget the actual numbers, but before the game, the Bengals had a 60-something percent chance to make the playoffs, and after the loss, it was down to 20-something.
STRONG FINISH PUTS CINCY IN FIRST SUPER BOWL SINCE 1988
A tough, 26-23 overtime loss to San Francisco the next week on Dec. 12 was Cincinnati’s last “real” defeat before the Super Bowl and it put them at an even more lowly 7-6.
But between a 15-10 victory over the Denver Broncos on Dec. 19 and the 27-24 overtime win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game on Jan. 30, the Bengals were a stellar 6-1, including three playoff wins, with the only black mark a 21-16 upending by Cleveland in an inconsequential regular-season finale in which Burrow and Mixon didn’t play.
That streak, during which I texted my son with pregame photos of my Bengals-colored hat with a “Why Dey?” message, gave more strength than ever to those JUNGLE vibes I originally picked up on opening day.
HERE IS A VIDEO OF ME AND ELIJAH celebrating and high-fiving that 27-24 win over Minnesota on Sept. 12:
THERE WAS NO HIGH-FIVING ON SUNDAY
Perhaps another Evan McPherson winning field goal would lead to more high-fiving Sunday. But no.
Right after the loss, my wife and Elijah both said, “It was a great season.” And I immediately responded, “It was a great season.”
I went to high-five Elijah, who refused to do the same, obviously holding out for the REAL promised land of a Super Bowl championship.
And so it came to pass that the ultimate Super Bowl heaven didn’t work out for the Bengals (or for our earlier-than-most hop onto the “Who Dey” bandwagon), but getting that close could be a sign of better things to come.
And, don’t forget, from September all the way through the final minute of Super Bowl 56, the question “Who Dey Gonna Beat Dem Bengals?” was amazingly relevant.
My screenshot to Elijah before Cincinnati’s AFC Championship Game victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Jan. 31. The orange and black cap is from my high school alma mater (the Marlboro Panthers) and served as a stand-in for real Bengals gear.
PUTTING IT ALL IN THE PROPER PERSPECTIVE
Come to find out that there was really no reason to feel a strain during the up-and-down regular season and the three wild, surreal playoff victories or fret on Sunday when time ran out on the Bengals.
For me, it took Father Peter Miti, the new priest at Resurrection of the Lord Catholic Church in Waipio, to put it all in perspective.
“It was a big day of football,” he said to some light-hearted chuckles just before wrapping up Mass on Sunday evening. “Many of you wanted one team to win and many others wanted the other team to win. I want you to remember that if your team won, you are blessed and even if your team lost, you are also blessed.”
