THE BENGALS FILE
Home field: Paycor Stadium
Coach: Zac Taylor
Offensive star: WR Ja’Marr Chase
Defensive star: FS Jessie Bates III
2021 Season: Lost 23-20 to Rams in the Super Bowl
Super Bowls – 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 2005, 2008
Greatest Player: OT Anthony Munoz
Factoid: The Bengals added the black stripes to their helmets in 1981.
By Lenn Robbins
If you want to run with the Big Cats, you’ve got to walk in the tall
grass.
For the longest time the Bengals couldn’t find the tall grass with a safari
guide and a Google Earth map. That time came to an end in the 2021
season. After five straight losing seasons, the Bengals didn’t just post a
winning record (10-7), they took the NFL by storm, winning the AFC
Championship.
Trust us when we say that Bengals fans relish this question: Did the
Bengals inadvertently wander into the tall grass or are they truly Big
Cats to be taken seriously?
Looking back on it, Cincy’s rise shouldn’t be a shock.
The team was acquiring a lot of terrific young talent. They were 2-6-1
going into Week 11, having lost three of those games by four or less
points, when quarterback Joe Burrow, the No.1 overall pick in the 2020
NFL Draft suffered a devastating knee injury.
Cincy went 2-5 down the stretch and Burrow’s future was in doubt.
Burrow made a remarkable recovery and by the middle of the 2020
season he three for 300 or more yards in five of his final 10 games,
including 525 yards in a 41-21 win over the Ravens in Week 16.
But you know what they say about it being twice as hard to stay on top.
The Bengals won’t surprise anyone this season. They are no longer
hiding in the tall grass.
This season will tell us if the Bengals are worth their stripes.