Ohio’s two NFL teams are headed in opposite directions.
Even with similar records of 2-4 (Cincinnati) and 2-5 (Cleveland), they couldn’t appear more different.
The NFL is occasionally mocked as the “No Fun League” for its touchdown-celebration penalties. Cincinnati is a team currently consumed with sorrow.
The brand of discombobulated football the Bengals are playing right now isn’t even laughable or “Bungalable.”
It’s sad.
Even more depressing than the drive-crippling false starts and overall lack of focus of the entire team is that it seems as if the team doesn’t enjoy going to work on Sunday afternoons.
Ever since the offseason signing of Terrell Owens, the Who Dey nation heard this team was the most talented Bengal team since 1988, the year of its last Super Bowl appearance.
But when talent and discipline don’t mesh in the NFL, a team quickly becomes an embarrassment. That leads to players blaming each other or a coach, which in turn ends in a lost season.
The Bengals are the Midwest’s version of the Dallas Cowboys. They haven’t turned against each other yet, but a few more gloomy losses might do the trick.
I could go on about the offense lacking identity and creativity and the defense’s pathetic pass rush, but those problems are miniscule in the big picture.
The Bengals should be 0-6. Fans are already calling for 2009 NFL Coach of the Year Marvin Lewis to pack his bags. It’s possible that the team has simply stopped responding to Lewis, now in his seventh season in Cincinnati.
A step in the right direction would be to watch a Browns game or two.
At 2-5, Cleveland is actually behind the Bengals in the division. But the Browns have already beaten the Bengals this season. Their season, while not met with success in the win-loss column, is reminiscent of the 2009 Bengals season.
Last season, the Bengals played to their strengths in each game. Pound the football and rely on their misfit defense. But they also endured the tragic deaths of defensive coordinator’s Mike Zimmer’s wife and wide receiver Chris Henry. Through triumph and tragedy, the Bengals persevered as a team instead of a collection of individuals.
Make no mistake about it: this year’s Browns aren’t the 2009 Bengals. One of the main reasons they’re stuck in the AFC North cellar is they’ve started three quarterbacks in seven games.
But they’ve been in every game. They play together. They enjoy the game.
Exhibit A of the Browns turning years of frowns upside-down is Peyton Hillis. Have you seen him run the football? Not only does he rumble through defenses like a wrecking ball destroying a brick wall, but his enthusiasm is contagious.
The Browns also aren’t afraid to take chances. In the first quarter of Sunday’s victory over the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints, Joshua Cribbs fielded a punt, ran toward the right sideline and heaved a lateral across the field to Eric Wright for a 62-yard run. Late in the first half, punter Reggie Hodges stunned the Superdome crowd by feigning a punt and subsequently dashing down the middle of the field for 68 yards.
The point of having a profession is to enjoy what you do. One would think that if your profession is playing football in front of millions while getting paid, bliss would be second nature.
If the Bengals don’t start having a little more fun on the field, they’ll be watching the playoffs with the rest of us come January.
