To exuberant Bengals fan: stop celebrating artificial milestones. The victory over the Steelers was amazing. It was a great come-from-behind victory fueled by flawless quarterbacking and spot on play calling.
But great teams—Super Bowl teams—don’t celebrate regular season victories.
Remember a few years back when the Bengals beat the Steelers and won the division? What happened next? The Bengals proclaimed the tides they were a turning, while the wise old Steelers just licked their chops and said, “Just you wait”—then beat the Bengals a few weeks later and finished the year with a Super Bowl victory.
Last year the Titans did the same with the same result. See a pattern?
Sunday’s victory was a great one. But true greatness would be beating the Stillers again in a month and then winning the division. Or winning a playoff game for the first time in, I don’t know, way too damn long.
Am I just a bitter old Bengals fan? Probably. But I am happy they won yesterday—they deserved it. And the Bengals were the better team. But the second they start believing that’s enough—they lose it all.
No one cares the Bengals won the division in ’05. And nothing matters but Super Bowls. By this time next year, no one will care about a meaningless early season game.
Don’t celebrate this victory, Bengals. Win some games, and act like you’ve been there before. Then win the Super Bowl.
That’s when we can celebrate.
