2009 AFC North Champions

It certainly wasn't pretty, but in the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, a win is a win and your Cincinnati Bengals are the 2009 AFC North Champs.  This is hard to believe.  In my lifetime, the Bengals have made the playoffs three times.  The first time, Joe Montana showed me that we live in a cruel, intolerant world and ruined my childhood.  The second time, I have no lasting memories.  The third time, Kimo von Oelhoffen left me questioning humanity.  Fourth time's a charm?

Perhaps - but anyone who has seen any of their last few games would have a hard time believing the Bengals are well positioned to win in the playoffs for the first time in 19 years.   We here at WDR have been writing about the issues all season (Dennis Roland has reported eligible).  But, today is not about harping on the many issues the Bengals need to address before the playoffs.  Today is about celebrating how far the Bengals have come in one season. 

Hopefully some day winning the division will be expected and not so surprising.  But for a team that has made the playoffs twice in my lifetime and has not won a playoff game in 19 years, today is a good day to be a Bengals fan.

Who Dey.

Comments

[Michael]

Glad the Bengals won too but if you are old enough to remember Joe Montana and the 88/89 Superbowl run then you're forgetting one other playoff season. In 1990 they defeated the Oilers in the first round then lost to the Raiders whilst on route to ending the football career of one Bo Jackson. We don't need to repeat what happened in 05. Everybody knows. So let us all hope the 4th time is the charm...

[Brosef Stalin]

Thanks Michael. Post updated. That's the kind of in depth research you can expect here at WDR.

[wch]

Why should it be hard to believe that the Bengals have gotten to the playoffs three times in your lifetime? Assuming you were born around 1988, think about the amount of times that the Cowboys made it to the playoffs -- the Deadskins or just about any other team (notice, I said JUST ABOUT any other team). How many times did the Packers go to the Playoffs -- not win the Super Bowl as that is not what's being talked about here. Go look at the record of the Buffalo Bills. 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999.... ...And you're giddy because only three times during that span your 'team' made it to the playoffs? WTF are you guys using in order to make judgements about the Bengals and its ownership?

Yep, ya'll feel prey to 'playoff fever' and forgot what this board was all about -- sort of like the same way ya'll forgot about about the idiocy of this team and ownership that allowed you to hang that deathly looking albatross (that is PBS) on us up to the next freakin' half millenium!

It is no wonder that dealing with people like this that we have the shit down at the river that we have now!

BTW Tampa's playoff appearances since 1998: 97, 99, 00, 01, 02, 05, 07.
Philadelphia Eagles: 88, 89, 90, 92, 95, 96, 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 06, 08. (these are but three teams chosen randomly!) WTF does that tell ya? It tells me that you got enamoured -- like so many locals, lost your perspective and hence did stoopid things -- like voting for a stadium tax.

You are serious when you are actually happy to have three playoff appearances? OMFG

[Big Joe]

you are also forgetting the other time Joe Montana killed our chances in '81 the year of the Freezer Bowl

btw, thats a great game to watch if anyone has ever seen it. nothing like playing football with a windchill of -52f

and forest gregg having the lineman out before the game practiceing with just tee shirts on under the pads

[Bayou Bengal]

wch,

Ummmmmm.... really?

The whole point was that the surprise is the fact that they made it to the playoffs again... surprise based on the fact that its a rare occurence. Nowhere in the post was anything that indicated three playoff appearances was sufficient, or reason for celebration. Merely that this poor performance is WHY making the playoffs in any give year IS a reason for celebration.

So maybe, before you go on an epic rant, try to understand the actual point of the initial post. :-D

[votasi]

i want to just comment on this team - right here, right now. we've all got our beef with m.b. and the way this organization has been run historically. none of us are satisfied with going 8-8 or just making it to a one-and-done rare playoff appearance. however, i believe through pressure put on the club from sources like wdr and the community in general since 2002 and increasingly since the end of 2007 that the front office has made better decisions and i want to give this team, this year some due credit. specifically i want to comment on an issue we have always ripped the bengals for: lack of depth/ability to overcome injury. for the first time in a long time, the bengals are known for their defense, and yet, as we enter the last week of the season, we have seen no less than 4 starters miss significant playing time and are now losing another in #58 as two others hopefully come back. for the most part, our team has not blinked in the face of this adversity. we have all recognized that they are well coached, more mature (especially in the cb's department), and they are still ranked rather high in league statistic categories. big props to them as a unit, including the coaches, and whatever aligned to allow the management to put this squad together.

on the offensive side of the ball, while admittedly putrid at times, we've done a fair job in filling a couple spots with adequate depth to get us the division. from the beginning the loss of reggie kelley hurt what we wanted to do. utecht's loss eliminated the potential of things we wanted to try, and admittedly their replacements have been more than sub-par, yet we are making the smallest incremental strides to improve. the line has consistently gotten better with an interchangeable line-up due to scheme/injury/ability, and of course a lot of credit should be given to management for securing quality depth at the running back position which has been the most valuable part of what success we have had on that side of the ball this year (often it seems stubborn self-inflicted success, but success non-the-less).

the only areas which we suffer at depth with is the wr core (haven't seemed to overcome losses in free agency and slim's injury/passing) and of course as last year proved, the qb position, though i will argue that it is sheer luck to be able to overcome that one for a long period of time for almost any team.

i hope we continue to address this crucial area of a team's makeup/ability in the offseason to both sides of the ball, emphasizing both sides of the line, and making an effort to specifically address the wr's and possibly safties.

go get 'em d-! stay focused o-, and let's hold on to whatever we have to (breath and a bottle of anxiety pills) for the rest of this year. WHO DEY -

[Ross]

I'm still not happy. I won't be happy until Bob Bratkowski is GONE! Once again, we let a team that isn't that good hang around, and one bad play, we coulda lost it. Our game winning drive was awesome. A mix of the pass and the run is what got us a touchdown that drive. And it almost didn't happen because of the dumbass calling the plays. Thank god for Brian Leonard. Passing worked on that drive. The run didn't until we beat them pretty bad with a couple passes. Teams will not be able to stop us if we pass more than we do now. We have a great QB and some great WRs to go along with a good running game. WTF can't we use everybody??

Not only do I question Brat, but what about ML? Every week it is the same thing. They are unprepaired. We constantly line up wrong, constantly have lots of penalties, and we constantly run THE SAME PLAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think they watch the other teams film. And then we have to listen to the same crap at the press conference about how we've got some "small" things we have to fix. These "small" things have turned into big things because you haven't fixed it all year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ross]

I don't care that we are 2009 NFC North Champions. We've got the players to do very well in the playoffs, but we won't because we've got a moron calling the plays!!

[TheCarlPickensClause]

Wch is a mongoloid. I bet he kicks his dog when the Bengals win a game. Re-donk-u-lous.

It's been a good year to watch Bengals football. Not to go way into it, but I've had a shitty year in many other aspects in my life (financial, family health), and watching this team's grit and having them win about 70% of the time they take the field is a refreshing escape from one's everyday problems. I think we can all agree that that this Bengals team isn't the most talented they've had, it's certainly one of the deepest they've had. I really feel that this team is a "team of destiny", of sorts. With all of the adversity they've had to overcome (deaths, injuries, etc), the won the freaking division. They were also on Hard Knocks which was an incredible treat for any fan of the team. I really feel that this team could beat 6-8 of the total 12 teams that will be in the playoffs. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Bengals will have a rematch with one of a few teams: Denver, Pittsburgh, Jets, and/or San Diego. I truly hope this happens so they can redeem themselves.

Bottom line: enjoy this year (wch, I'm looking your direction). They've been few and far between which makes it that much more enjoyable when they come around. Get your bitch on when their season ends, not now.

[Sue]

I am a 56 year old mother of one...a daughter who could care less about the Bengals. :( I remember all our playoffs...and the FREEZER BOWL. Yes, it sure does not feel like the other years. But having our hopes and dreams DASHED TO SMITHEREENS previously, maybe this feeling is real. Maybe THIS IS the year we do it. Who knows. Miracles happen everyday!

[Comrade Robert]

As someone who ran onto the field after the Freezer Bowl to pull down a goal post (shame there were as many cops as us)
Sunday was sweet. I'll admit to having tears after Halls game sealing Int.
When I dropped my seats after last season I said "prove me wrong"; well the team did. GOOD!.
Is this team built for a deep run? Who knows? While there are areas of concern,every team has a weakness it seems this year.
Yet while enjoying this years squad I also know not to expect a repeat next year due to The Family factor.
So I'll just enjoy the run while it last.
Besides there is The Sugar Bowl to get excited about first.
And the Rose Bowl as an appetizer.

Viva Bosef; a toast to good days as a fan.

[CurseofBoJackson]

Unfortunately, Ross is right, Brat is a terrible play caller....... Unless....... I keep holding on by dental floss to the notion that maybe Brat is so god damned smart that he is putting as little film together for other teams to look at as possible. He goes vanilla in that interest and only turns the creative juice on when he needs to. i know I'm crazy for even attempting to believe that, but in two weeks I think I can either let go of the notion, or bask in my WAY off the wall prediction being correct.

[guttersnake]

You know what, Curse; I think you might be on to something there... Granted there was the emotional aspect of the game, the stripes came out with an aerial offensive as if they were Zinzinnati's own Luftwaffe against a San Diego team who, statistically speaking, should have been literally run-over. But you could see in the 'fewer' run plays which Brat called that the Chargers were very ready for Cedric and his merry band of Mac Trucks... not so much for the quiet Carson.

I'm not saying anything is for sure, but perhaps you're little right. Maybe Brat is such a genius (...I think I just threw up a little in my mouth) that he saw the stretch and said we are good enough to keep ourselves under-raps for half a frickin' season! Lets look at our schedule after we swept Pitt in a different light: Oakland, Detroit, Cleveland - should have won all three of these games without showing too much of our hands (the raiders were a notable miscalculation). We just sucked at Minn, no strategy there... The Chargers should have been a win, and with KC we fell back into our serpentine hibernation....

In order to prove or disprove this little theory, I will watch the play calling in this last game against the Jets. As pointed out by the WDR, the runnings between the 3/4 seed is toight...like a toiger. With the Vikings losing to Chi-Town, Pitt edging the Ravens, and just about every improbable effort going our way, The Bengals find themselves with a chance to grind a win out of a team that just beat the last undefeated! Should this happen, our SoV should be able to put us over the Pats. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I want another shot at Philip Rivers' goofy ass!!!

But first, The Jets, Jets, Jets. A veritable wall defensively. The last chance for a 3 seed. I'm watching the play calling...

WHODEY!

[Ross]

@CurseofBoJackson

+1

I've also thought out that same scenario... but I keep telling myself that would be too good to be true. I thought I was the only dumbarse that thought that... haha. I never wanted to come out and say it because after how many years of loosing, you almost think your loosing your mind if you believe it.