Bengals already winners to fans, regardless of Super Bowl outcome

Editor’s Note: Review-Journal Digital Sports Manager Rochelle Richards was born and raised in Northern Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Being a fan of Cincinnati sports isn’t like being a fan of the New England Patriots or the Kansas City Chiefs. We’re not accustomed to winning.

Cincinnati sports fans have a genuine love of their teams, no matter how many disappointing seasons and losses they have to endure. Because let’s face it, winning isn’t something Cincinnati has seen very much of. At least not for a long time.

I grew up a diehard Cincinnati Reds fan. Especially in high school during the Adam Dunn, Sean Casey and Ken Griffey Jr. era. But they haven’t won a World Series since 1990 — before I was born.

The same goes for the Bengals, who last won the AFC championship in 1988. Their win over the Raiders on Jan. 15 was the team’s first postseason win in 31 years.

They went from being the worst team in the NFL in 2019 to playing on the NFL’s biggest stage only two years later.

The Tri-State area surrounding Cincinnati is buzzing. People are shotgun chugging cans of Skyline Chili. My cousin told me he wished I was back home to experience it. It’s a feeling the city has never experienced, and it’s brought a sense of confidence the city has never had.

For once, we aren’t a laughingstock. For once, we get to make the memes mocking other teams’ losses.

After so many years of enduring season after season of disappointment, the fans’ loyalty has finally paid off.

Cincinnati Public Schools have canceled school Feb. 14, the day after the Super Bowl “to celebrate what we believe will be our city’s first-ever Super Bowl victory!” The City of Hillsboro, Ohio, about 50 miles east of Cincinnati, has been temporarily renamed Hillsburrow.

The team hasn’t even won the Super Bowl yet and the city is celebrating as if it has.

Why?

Because to us, they’re already winners.

We’ve stood by our team during its worst, mocked and ridiculed by other fans for not abandoning ship when our team choked and every year ended in disappointment.

But just look at us now. As your precious Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers and Patrick Mahomes watch from the comfort of their living rooms, Joe Burrow and the Bengals will play for the Super Bowl title.

It’s a moment fans have dreamed about for longer than I’ve been alive.

Burrow has changed the franchise. He’s brought much-needed warmth to a fan base left out in the cold year after year after year. Because of him, there’s never been a better time to be a Bengals fan. Or a member of the Cincy locker room for that matter.

He’s a different breed of football player. The kind Cincy fans have spent many, many years praying to the football gods for.

And now here we are. The Bengals are in the Super Bowl, set to take on the Los Angeles Rams at 3:30 p.m Sunday and looking to remove their name from a list of 12 teams that have never brought home a Lombardi Trophy.

So, as the Bengals prepare to accomplish what’s seemed impossible for so long, I leave you with this:

Who dey! Who dey! Who dey think gonna beat them Bengals? Noooooooobody!

Contact Rochelle Richards at rrichards@reviewjournal.com. Follow @RoRichards24 on Twitter.