by Chris Asbrock
Sitting back and reflecting on last night, the more you realize how hard it is to be a Cincinnati Bengals fan or a Cincinnati sports fan in general. The swing of emotions was only typical in what you would experience while in a crucial game. Long gone are the glory days of the Bengals and just when we thought they’d come back, they were dashed with a football traveling through the uprights. This will be the last time this team will be together and the team will look drastically different.
Heading into this game, the confidence was there for the first playoff win in 25 years. The team standing in the way was the Pittsburgh Steelers. The passion and hatred is there for this team and the feeling is mutual in the eyes of Steelers fans. Last night was the perfect recipe for a passion fueled game. That is exactly what was created. The NFL made one crucial mistake in selecting their officials to oversee last night. The head official was John Parry who was in charge of the last Bengals and Steelers matchup, where is crew once again lost complete control.
That was the case once again where the blame can be tossed on all three parties. The referees for tossing and not tossing flags consistently. The standard of officiating in the NFL is atrocious. That is another discussion for another time. The officials weren’t the reason the Bengals lost this game. It was the Bengals players who let themselves and an entire city down. Last night was reason number one why it is embarrassing to be a Cincinnati sports fan. Between the fans throwing things on the field, throwing things at Big Ben as he was being carted off the field and cheering heavily while Antonio Brown was out on the field. The Bengals and their fans were sent a heavy dose of karma last night.
Along with the fans, the behavior of a few Bengals players, mainly Vontaze Burfict was deplorable. It has reached the point to where the pros no longer outweigh the cons when it comes to the play of Burfict. Burfict is now facing a suspension for his hit on Antonio Brown. Burfict has been known to lose his composure in games, resulting in multiple flags, fines and suspensions. Once again Burfict was unable to keep his cool and handed the Steelers a playoff gift with his head shot on Brown. Burfict is not the only one to point the finger at.
Adam Jones was the other player who lost his cool and helped put the bow on the Steelers win with his reaction after the Burfict flag. Those two decided that it was more important to deliver an illegal head shot and bump an official than it was to send the Steelers home with their fourth consecutive playoff defeat. Championship winning teams do not have those players on their rosters and if they do, the coaches and the other players keep them in check. The Bengals no longer seem to have that type of leadership and it once again reared its ugly head.
Fans will continue to complain that Cincinnati teams get no respect. Well folks, that change will never happen if garbage like this continues. Things now need to change in the Queen City. The fans need to sit back and think about their actions during games while the Bengals ownership and front office need to take a serious look at the personnel on this team. Is it time to make a change at the head coaching position? Do Burfict and Jones need to be shown the door? Those are just a few of the many questions that must be answered heading into these next few months.
Last night was the perfect highlight reel on why being a Bengals fan is so tough. The joy of seeing the team take the lead with just 96 seconds left to getting speedbagged by karma. While the Steelers were not choir boys in last nights game, it was only fitting the Bengals and their fans would lose their minds to the point where we are sent packing, while the Steelers and their fans enjoy playoff glory.
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