Bengals quarterback Jeff Blake waves to the crowd after the Bengals beat the Colts 34-27 to end the season. (File/Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

        Let us hearken back to those glory days of yesteryear ... the Atlanta Games ... a presidential election without hanging chads ... and yes, a .500 Bengals team.

        Think back six years ago to 1996. Bill Clinton pummeled Bob Dole on Election Day. The Enquirer entered the realm of cyberspace with the launch of Enquirer.com. Michael Johnson ran about as fast as a horse in the Atlanta Olympics. Xavier's Lenny Brown shocked No.1 Cincinnati at the buzzer. And the Bengals won eight games and finished with a .500 record. Yes, even that last one did happen.

        Ah, the memories. 1996 was the high point of a three-year Glory Days period for the Bengals, who surrounded that year with 7-9 seasons in 1995 and 1997. It has been more like Gory Days ever since, which is why it is sometimes easier to discuss past success than present failure with the Bengals.

        The 1996 season began like any other Bengals campaign in the last decade with a 1-6 record that led to head coach David Shula's resignation after seven games. In stepped Bruce Coslet, promoted from offensive coordinator, and the Bengals closed out the season with an inspiring 7-2 record.

        “Bruce stepped up and moved up to head coach,” said Ashley Ambrose, now with the Atlanta Falcons. “We had meetings as players and said, if we want this to work out, we have to get to work. I knew then that the guy next to me was going to do his job. It felt like we were the best team in the league.”

        Much of that success came from the arm of Jeff Blake, who directed the offense to an NFL-best 373 yards a game over the final eight games. Carl Pickens and Darnay Scott were his favorite targets, but every so often he found third-down receiver David Dunn to keep drives moving.

        “We had the running game and the receivers,” said offensive lineman Willie Anderson, who with Rich Braham is one of two Bengals remaining from the 1996 squad. “I was Blake's neighbor down by the river, and we'd sit outside and say, "If defenses stop Scott and Pickens, we've got Snoop (Dunn) coming over the middle.”'

        Indeed, the receiving corps was quite a group. Pickens led the way with 100 catches for 1,180 yards and 12 touchdowns and made the Pro-Bowl. Scott, now with the Cowboys, posted an average yards per catch of 14.4 and scored five times. The tight end, Tony McGee, who is also now with the Cowboys, caught 38 passes, four of them touchdowns. Dunn scored only once but led the team in yards per catch at 15.9.

        “We all clicked together,” said Blake, now a backup quarterback for the Ravens. “We all had a lot of fun together and we all hung out together. Me and Pick(ens) were like glue, we were together so much. And it showed on the football field.”

        Actually, it didn't start to show until late October when the turnaround started. It was an attitude change halfway through the season, Ambrose said, that made the Bengals believe they could make the playoffs.

        “We took it personally and didn't give up,” he said. “We realized if we lose one more game, we might not have a chance to make the playoffs. So we went out to win nine in a row, and we almost did it.”

        They missed the playoffs by three points. A 30-27 loss to Jacksonville on Dec.1 sent Jacksonville to the postseason with a 9-7 record and left the Bengals at home even though they beat three playoff teams during the regular season.

        “We didn't think about the playoffs,” Blake said. “That was a very far-fetched idea after the way we started. It was the last thing we were thinking about.”

        Perhaps if the defense had been a little more consistent that year, the playoffs would have been more realistic.

        But the Bengals gave up 342 yards a game. On the plus side, they did score 23 points a game back then, about 17 more per game than the current club. It's a good thing, because they gave up 23 points a game in 1996.

        “The offense was scoring, but the defense couldn't stop anybody,” Anderson said.

        Not as a defensive unit anyway. Individually, Ambrose led the team with eight interceptions, made the Pro Bowl and was named the Defensive Back of the Year by NFL players. But overall, the Bengals' defense didn't measure up to the offense.

        “We were losing a lot of shootouts,” Blake said. “If we had the defense they have now, we'd have been in the playoffs every year.”

        For whatever reason, it didn't seem to matter too much that the Bengals didn't make the playoffs. There was hope for the future after the way the season ended. Of course, within a few years, Blake was in New Orleans, Coslet resigned after an 0-3 start in 2000, Pickens' act grew old on and off the field, and the Bengals were back to being the Bengals.

        “Those were the best years I've had, '95 and '96,” Blake said. “But it seemed like after 1996, they did everything they could to get me out of there.”

        The players, the coaches even the stadium has changed, from Cinergy Field to Paul Brown Stadium. But the memories of the Bengals' Glory Days will remain until the next .500 team in orange and black tiger stripes comes along.

        “We salvaged something that year,” said defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson, now with the Redskins. “It really showed the character of the team and showed that we weren't quitters and we weren't going to let the rest of the NFL look down at us as the same old Bengals.”

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