Sunday, December 05, 1999
Bengals playing for jobs
Owner looking for reasons to keep people
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Whenever they play the 49ers, the Bengals are either playing for the Lombardi Trophy, or the future of their coach, or to flirt with history.
The stakes always seem huge when they meet no matter the records, and San Francisco has always been a lot bigger against the Bengals. The 49ers are 9-1, including victories in Super Bowls XVI and XXIII.
A dozen years ago at then Riverfront Stadium, San Francisco won one of the great blooper games in NFL annals when the Bengals managed to lose to Joe Montana and Jerry Rice despite having the ball and a six-point lead with six seconds left.
And three seasons ago in San Francisco, a 49er rally from a 21-0 deficit got coach Dave Shula fired and elevated Bruce Coslet.
There will be no firings today, yet Coslet and his team are scrutinized by an owner looking for reasons to avoid dismissals after the season.
But history could be made today. Wouldn't it be fitting if the 49ers, who have been breaking Bengals hearts for a generation, hand Cincinnati its 107th loss of the 1990s for the worst decade ever?
Winning three of the last four could keep Coslet around. Home losses to either the reeling 49ers (3-8) or the expansion Browns (2-10) could be devastating.
Despite losing 11 straight at home, the Bengals are favored, which worries Bengals President Mike Brown. He is most galled when his team comes out flat at home against a team it should be in the game with and clears the stadium by halftime.
But he also finds encouragement in the effort Coslet gets from his team and the NFL rankings of No. 14 on offense and No. 22 on defense.
“We've got to be better on defense,” Brown said, “but there are nine teams behind us and we're in the upper half on offense. That would indicate there is a better foundation than the record indicates.”
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