Monday, December 31, 2001
Bengals' win can't obscure problems
After numb Neil Rackers somehow steered his 31-yard field goal through the uprights, he held his hands to his face in shock. “I can't believe it,” he seemed to say. We're with you, brother.
The Bengals' 26-23 overtime win against the homestanding Pittsburgh Steelers defied description, which made it a lot like the last 11 years around here. Leave it to Rackers, the tortured and torturing placekicker, to decide things.
(By the way, thanks to the tens of thousands of black and gold-wearing maniacs who annually make the five-hour run from Iron City, incinnati is the only team in the NFL with nine home games. The Steelers' home crowd even managed a respectable “De-fense” chant in ghostly Paul Brown Stadium on the Bengals' next-to-last drive.)
We've seen this before
; It was nearly one for the Lost Millennium scrapbook when Rackers pushed the extra point that would have won the game in regulation. He atoned with the gamewinner after saying to himself, “Just kick the ball.”
Funny. Isn't that what's gotten him booed all year?
We won't throw cold water on Cincinnati's weird win. It would freeze, anyway. Instead, we'll offer a plea to anyone who has been mis-running the Bengals since the last century:
Don't take this as a sign that happy days are here. The Bengals have won weirdly in the past, over teams they weren't supposed to beat, especially late in the year. Remember the Jacksonville game last year?
Here's what the Bengals did Sunday:
They beat the best team in the AFC. They rallied twice from two touchdowns behind to do it. The defense was stout again. What guts they play with. The offense showed up. Jon Kitna threw 68 pitches, 35 for strikes. Bob Boone would've pulled him after 60.
The offense overcame yet another bonehead call on the goal line. Hey, Bob Bratkowski: Play-action on first down from the the eyelash-line is too cute, OK? Give the ball to Dillon.
Lousy is still lousy
Here's what 26-23 meant:
One win. Five-and-10 instead of 4-and-11. Smiles in the treatment room today.
That's it.
No miracle cures for what ails the Bengals. No thinking, please, that the corner has been turned. Heaven help us, no believing they're just “one or two” of anything away from being a contender. If that's the thinking this morning and beyond, the Bengals would have been better off losing 35-0.
Hand it to the players. They walked the walk. After saying they were hanging together, they did. Magnificently. It's nice to see a great effort rewarded.
Nicer to talk to Riall Johnson, who recovered the onside kick that allowed the Bengals to tie the game. Johnson described the bottom of the mosh pit: “I didn't see anything. I dug around. I felt the ball. I said, "This ain't no helmet.'”
For once, the Bengals got the break. Rackers overcame the cat-box field conditions to be hero-for-a-day. Good for him. Good for all the Bengals. But let's not get carried away. Lousy is still lousy. Even on the rare days when it's not.
E-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/daugherty.
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DAUGHERTY: Bengals' win can't obscure problems