I am coming to the Bengals game that means ‘everything’
The Cincinnati Bengals-Philadelphia Eagles game will be another White Out game. Is there some significance to it? You bet. (Mike Bass Photo)
By Mike Bass
mbass@mikebasscoaching.com
The Bengals can get back to .500, and I will be in there Sunday to watch what feels monumental.
Are you with me on the meaning of this one?
“Everything,” @LuckyLuchianooo wrote, “means everything.”
I go back to my second hometown for a game every year and had targeted this one before the season. Perfect time of year in Cincinnati. Midseason game for the Bengals. Compelling opponent in the Philadelphia Eagles. A good test on a supposed Super Bowl run – and but now crucial one on the Bengals’ SOS (Save Our Season) Tour.
The night the Bengals fell to 0-3, I wondered how much this game would matter. The day they fell to 1-4 was the day the optimism died throughout Bengal Land.
Although I started following the Bengals professionally 40 years ago, my fandom is relatively new. I wanted to lean into it, to embolden it, to savor another game that mattered. I didn’t expect it to matter this much.
The Bengals take longer every year to get back to .500. It gets harder to rebound from progressively worse starts.
This time, a couple of so-so road wins sparked a little hope. Now Cincinnati is one win away from 4-4. The Bengals were 4-4 in 2022 and made the AFC title game.
Just something to think about.
I asked this week in our day-after-game X chat what getting to back to .500 Sunday would mean to you.
“We barely beat the Giants and they just got destroyed by the Eagles,” @EspressoJose wrote. “Bengals need to show up and play WELL or they're f(---)ed.”
You don’t want to imagine 3-5 and the implications. I tried.
Will it be too late for the annual revival? Could the Bengals squeeze into the playoffs at 9-8? Are there enough easy wins remaining to get there? Can they ever beat a good team? Going 4-4 means answering that last one.
“Actually beating teams above .500,” @JLforemanjrAcTN wrote. “Don't get me wrong I love gimmes but this week should be the test of adjusting to (what’s) thrown at us.”
Beating the lowly Panthers, Giants and Browns was important if underwhelming. The Eagles have as many wins (four) as those three teams combined. Forget the 16-10 opening clunker against New England (if only), and consider this: The other L’s were to three teams with as many losses combined (four) as the Bengals have.
Anyone can lose to good teams, but you can’t lose to all of them if you are supposed to be one of them.
Finally winning an uneven game in Cleveland the other day was gratifying, but beating Philadelphia would take them to another level ... level for the season.
“Mean they back in business,” @DeuelLee wrote.
“Whole new ball game,” @j_cbus wrote. “Season starts over and you're not in a deficit anymore.”
This has been a trying season in Bengaldom. In other years, you could connect down times to the injuries and recoveries of Joe Burrow. That brought some comfort.
Not this time. The Bengals just have not been very good. The offense, defense and special teams never coalesce in a game. This has been a hard team to watch at times.
Could you blame the NFL for flexing Bengals-Eagles to earlier in the afternoon? It wasn’t so long ago you railed against the league, analysts and oddsmakers for slighting the Bengals coming off a Super Bowl. Now everyone wants to believe this is the team they expected, but is backing off before going all-in. Which makes sense.
It starts with getting back to .500.
“It would mean we are back and healthy, and everybody in the NFL should be scared,” @JeffATrennepohl wrote.
“The Eagles are a legit squad at 4-2,” @BengalsBrews wrote. “Win this one and all your goals are squarely in sight that you had before the season began.”
Just evening up the record this week seemed so far away when the Bengals hit the road at 1-4, didn’t it? At 2-4, it still did. And now? At 3-4, .500 is one win away, but the next stop on the SOS Tour is where the Bengals have not won all season ... and isn’t it about darn time they did?
“I think it’s important that we get a win at home and set the tone for the rest of the season that we can win wherever,” @Tdooley45231 wrote.
Here, here.
Right here.
“To me it's their reset button, unfortunately still needing more AFC wins but lots of those games are left,” @BengalsMike wrote. “They can forget about the division if manage to end up 0-4 at home, they'd be better off a wildcard being able to win on the road.”
If that is even within reach. How about at 4-4?
“Would mean we may have gotten out of our own way, in time to get a WC (wild card) … but was that really the expectation for the season(?)” @WhoDeyDoggie wrote.
No, it was not. The Bengals already are two games behind Pittsburgh and the Ravens in the North, and maybe there still is time for a run at the division title. It starts with stopping Saquon Barkley and Philly.
“Getting back to .500 would confirm the ‘new’ direction pundits have been saying the Bengals might be on,” @CoachKnox17 wrote. “The DL injury returns have really helped the D, but Saquon's a huge test. It ultimately means that we’ll need a complete 3(-)phase game from the Bengals. Haven’t seen that yet.”
Beat Philly now, double down against a wayward Las Vegas team next week, and show you are ready for prime time and a Thursday night rematch at Baltimore.
Simple, right?
In theory.
Are you convinced they will do it?
Optimism might not be back, but at least you can see a pathway to it now. Winning two in a row and three out of four helped. You also can thank the expanded season and playoffs, because holes are easier to escape these days and the Bengals try to prove it every year.
Like Nick the bartender in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the Bengals could slip the Eagles a convincer with the right punch. I would be happy even if the Bengals win ugly. I can worry about pretty next week. I am focused on Philly.
It is a White Out game, which sounds to me like the correction fluid, which lets you cover your previous mistakes. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it?
I can’t wait.