Shitty Bengals

 

 

 

 

Shitty Bengals

�through the decades

By Swissvale72

 

 

Dateline:� Elba (AP)

 

Here we are�Bengals week!!� Sunday Night will mark the 75^th meeting of these clubs, with the Steelers having won 44, while losing 30 thus far. The Bengals have been the object of my hatred, my disdain, my scorn,� far longer, and for exceeding the ill will that I�ve held for any other NFL entry.� The despicable Patriots??� Yes�.acutely, I despise them, but they�re relatively latecomers to my Hatred Derby.

 

I was in the House for the first Steelers-Bengals tilt on November 2, 1970.� It was also the first Monday Night game in Steeler history, held at brand new Three Rivers Stadium.� Dick Hoak threw an option pass for a TD that night�.I�m a bit fuzzy, but it was a long one�80 yards, perhaps?

 

The Steelers got over on the Bengals in the �70s, and continued to do so in subsequent years, always there to grab a playoff spot whenever the Stripers would slip & fall.� The first such year was 1976, perhaps the best Steelers team ever, but one that needed a late-season Bengals collapse in order to procure a playoff spot.� Bengals had managed a total of 3 FGs in two contests versus the Steelers, having fallen 7-3, victimized by a Franco TD run, and a staunch Steeler stand in the Cincinnati snow in late November.� But it looked as though closing the season with 9 consecutive victories would still leave the Steelers out of the playoff picture.� The best chance for a Bengals loss was in the season�s next to last week, a Monday nighter at Oakland.��� The Raidas has already clinched home field throughout the playoffs, and the prevailing wisdom was that Oakland would tank the game.� The Bengals took a quick 6-0 lead on a pass to Isaac Curtis, but would score no more, Oakland winning 41-6, and the Steelers gaining a playoff spot with their 5^th regular season shutout in the season finale the following Saturday.

 

The following season, 1977, the Steelers lost in the Cinci snow on the season�s next to last Saturday.� The Bengals needed only a victory over the somewhat lowly Oilers in the finale to take the AFC Central.� Oilers won!!� Steelers beat San Diego, 10-9, Swannie bought attach� cases for all the Houstonites, and the Steelers were once again playoff-bound while the Shitty Bengals stayed home.

 

I hated these Bengals, despised them.� I�ve long forgotten many of their players, but still remember DE Coy Bacon as being particularly annoying.

 

The Bengals owned the �80s as the Steelers struggled.� Fully half of the Bengal win in this 38 year rivalry came during the 11 year period from 1980 through 1980, winning 15 of 21 contests during this time period.� Even during this period of dominance though, the Bengals were left on the outside looking in as the decade closed.� Christmas night, 1989�a Bengals win at Minnesota gave them the Division�a loss and the Steelers would have completed a remarkable comeback.� The Vikes built a strong first-half lead, then held off the Bengals to thrust the Steelers, and themselves, into the playoffs, leaving the Bengals and the Packers home for the remainder of the holidays.

 

I�m trying to place one other memory I have, but can�t seem to draw it into focus.� I remember it being a season-ending Monday nighter, and if went the right way, the Bengals would be in the playoffs.� Pre-game, they were all gathered at some joint I Kentucky.� Boomer was beaming�.Collinsworth was all smiles�.but by the end of the night, the remote cameras in this establishment revealed sullen Bengals, once again shut out of playoff possibilities.

 

As much as the Bengals dominated the �80s, the Steelers were even a stronger force in this series throughout the �90s.� Beginning with the �91 season, the Steelers reeled off 8 straight wins, and were 22-7 against the Bengals from �91 until the second meeting of the �05 season.� A notable Steeler loss, however, occurred on December 30, 2001, the one and only time that a Bill Cowher squad lost after holding a lead of at least 11 points.

 

The second meeting of the �05 season was notable for a pair of reasons.� It was prior to this game, in the South End Zone concourse of Heinz Field, on the first weekend of December 2 years ago, that SignPlax offered to buy me a beer.� I should have known that there was more to this $6.25 gift than met the eye.� Whereas his buddies, even the Colts fan, were holding game programs, SignPlax had in hand a paperback book, entitled�Daily Compounded Interest...Swindling the Unsuspecting.� I�ve received a statement from SignPlax Enterprises, LTD. on a monthly basis ever since, my tab now approaching triple figures.� It was also in this South End Zone that SignPlax revealed his penchant for Steeler-associated tears, even following winning efforts.� It�s good to know that he cried himself to sleep on Monday night following the win over Miami.

 

The second game of the �05 season, more importantly, was notable for its following a Monday Night game, that being our loss to Indy.� Didn�t know it at the time, but this pattern would recur in �06, losing at home to Cinci following a Monday night loss to Jax.

 

This pattern, along with the return of The Thug Chris Henry to the Bengals lineup, and the Bengals improvement of late, has me extremely worried headed into Sunday Night.

 

The Bengals�hate �em, much worse than the Browns, our historic rivals.� Perhaps it�s due to my respecting the Browns tradition, while the Bengals persist with that �Who Dey� bullshit, and those ghastly unis.

 

At any rate, my anxiety level as I make the fateful journey to Foxboro on December 9, hinges on this Sunday�s outcome.� We win�.house money�.of sorts.� Lose though, and our grip on first place in the North starts to spiral down a very treacherous slope.

 

Until next week�.

 

S72