Cincinnati Bengals Just Beginning to Get the Respect They Deserve

Fantasy football and office pool betting seem to have caused a decline in unadulterated fandom especially here in Southern California. USC is the football team of LA-la Land and even those fans sold away there tickets to the Rose Bowl in 2006 when Vince Young's Longhorns came to town. In typical Socal fashion, SC fans turned a profit and there were fewer Trojan fans at the game then Texas fans. The economy was booming in 2006 and Texans have deep pockets, but part of me thinks fans did not want to miss a profit and watch there team lose. No guts. No faith. Fickle and heartless.

I see this same attitude in all these so-called experts' "Power Rankings" each week. They never want to go out on a limb for a team that is playing with heart. Numbers don't lie, but they use the record of each team way too much. The Saints, Vikings, and Colts must be the best teams if they have the best records, right? Wrong. I suggest the Bengals would give any of these team a run for their money. The Bengals defense is better then all three teams. Great example of this was when the Broncos were undefeated. With each defeat they fell in the rankings. They should have never been that high to begin with. The experts are supposed to know the nuances of the game. Are the Raiders better than the Eagles just because they won on a given Sunday? Obviously, not. Were the Broncos better then the Bengals after Week 1? No way.

Finally, On Mike and Mike in the Morning, on Thursday morning, Mark Schlereth went out on a limb and said the Bengals are the best team in the AFC. Better than the Colts even though the Colts are unbeaten. The majority of folks though don't even know the Bengal's coach's name. Keyshawn Johnson called him Marvin Harrison, an honest mistake, but if they ever talked about the Bengals on ESPN he would not have made that mistake. During the Bengals v. Steelers game, they said the wrong name of Bengals players a couple of times. It wasn't until the fourth quarter that they weren't broadcasting as if the Steelers were going to win. Consistently remarking how great this play was and how this player is so good at such and such. They were almost surprised when they looked at the scoreboard and the Bengals were winning.

Speaking of winning. The Steelers were favored to win that game by 7.5 points. I have to think that is because Vegas sets the line to where they will get 50/50 betting. All these Steelers homers bet on their team, but they don't even follow the other teams. What? The Steelers are in the Super Bowl. Time to go buy a hat and jump on the bandwagon again. This is why people continue to root for the Cowboys and Steelers. Safety in numbers. If their team is crappy, they can deflect attacks to someone else. There is always and Steelers or Cowboys fan around. Because of the spread, my mother-in-law picked the Steelers in her office betting pool then had the odacity to come over and try to root for them while I was watching the game. I was already fired up, so I yelled at her and said get out of here with that.

The Bengals are good this year because of Chris Crocker and Mike Zimmer. They have first round draft picks with experience that have evolved into shut-down corners in Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph. Their linebackers are guys with fire: Keith Rivers, Rey Maualuga, Dhani Jones. Did you see the size of Andrew Whitworth? I finally saw him on television on Sunday and that is a big boy. Mike Brown went back to his formula of high risk high reward in this draft and with some free agents. Cedric Benson, Tank Williams, Chris Henry, Bernard Scott have all worked out. A couple of years ago I wrote how they needed David Pollack and Odell Thurman back. Neither of them came back and the Bengals subsequently lost many games. Finally, Marvin Lewis has made this team into a group of believers. After the Steelers victory on Sunday, Lewis was as cool as a cucumber. He really has turned this program around. At 53-51-1, Lewis has a winning record with the Bengals inheriting a poor team and dealing with a great deal of diversity.

I used to get so fired up to watch Boomer Esiason, James Brooks, Ickey Woods, Anthony Munoz, and Tim Krumrie. I didn't even pay attention during what I call the "Corey Dillon years". I have begun to hear the rumblings: Bengals in Super Bowl XLIV. I am not the Ocho. I won't make any guarantees except to say that everyone better pay closer attention to THESE cardiac cats. Who Dey!