Monday, October 25, 2004
A 'MNF' future on the line
It's taken 12 years to return, so Bengals can't disappoint
By Mark Curnutte
Enquirer staff writer
The second longest drought in "Monday Night Football" history will end tonight in Cincinnati.
But if the disappointing Bengals don't put on a good show on national television, the clock easily could start ticking on another extended absence.
ABC executives tell the NFL which teams they want on Monday night. League officials consider their wishes but make the final decisions on the schedule.
"This is my opinion. I speak for no one but myself, but since 1990 it is rare that a team with a losing record is on the following season," said "MNF" producer Fred Gaudelli.
The Bengals, since last making the playoffs in 1990, have had just two .500 finishes with 11 losing seasons.
"It's not a mystery," Gaudelli said.
The Bengals' 12-year absence from Monday night is second only to Tampa Bay's streak in the show's 35-year history. The Buccaneers' 1998 appearance was their first since 1983. In the past seven years, they've played on Monday night 12 times.
Arizona inherits the longest dark spell. The Cardinals were last on in 1999. Expansion Houston, which started play in 2002, doesn't count.
The Bengals are off to a 1-4 start. Coach Marvin Lewis insists the team is making progress, but the 2004 Bengals have looked more like the Dave Shula and Bruce Coslet teams.
And now the eyes of the entire NFL, and much of the country, will be on Cincinnati and the Bengals. The Monday night telecast routinely attracts more than 50 million viewers.
"Everything's scrutinized," is how third-year color analyst John Madden described the pressure of playing on "Monday Night Football."
"If you're going to be good, you're going to be really good," he said. "If you're bad, you're going to be really bad.
"If you're bad, you're going to be embarrassed. So that's a little motivation, fear of failure. It has happened. The fear of being embarrassed will get you to come out fighting."
The Bengals earned a Monday night slot - their first in Cincinnati since Sept. 25, 1989, and first overall since Oct. 19, 1992, at Pittsburgh - by finishing 8-8 in Lewis' first season. After a 1-4 start, the 2003 Bengals won seven of 11 games.
"Cincinnati looked like an up-and-coming team," said "Monday Night" play-by-play man Al Michaels. "Carson Palmer looked like the type of (quarterback) you want to put on. It's fairly early in the season. I'm sure the Bengals hoped they would be doing a lot better. Obviously we were, too."
Palmer has the look of the Bengals' best quarterback since Boomer Esiason.
The lefty from Maryland threw three touchdown passes in the last Bengals' home Monday night game, a 21-14 victory against Cleveland. He also started the last Bengals game on Monday night, a 20-0 loss at Pittsburgh.
"You can figure it out," Esiason said when asked why the Bengals have been absent from Monday night since elder George Bush was U.S. president. "A lot can be traced to Cincinnati being a small-market team. They have not had much success.
"It's been horrendous, really."
Esiason will do color on the CBS Radio/Westwood One broadcast.
Some more context on how long it has been: Since the Bengals last played on Monday night, their opponent, Denver, has been on 25 Monday night games.
"We've been on national TV quite a bit," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "So, to be honest with you, I don't even think about it."
The Bengals made good on their prime-time appearance Sept. 19, defeating Miami, 16-13, at home on an ESPN Sunday night telecast. Monday night is bigger, though. For one, it's on free TV, not cable.
Lewis pointed to the solid Sunday night performance as reason to say his team would not be intimidated by the Monday night glare.
He's also not hearing any talk of a moral victory as a way to stay in the good graces of TV bosses.
"By not doing too much and taking care of doing our job, we have a better chance of winning the second game of the year," Lewis said. "If we get caught up in the hysteria of the people and everything moving around us, you're going to have a harder time.
"The idea is to win the game."
Bengals on Monday night
The Bengals are preparing for their first Monday night appearance since 1992 and first at home since 1989.
The Bengals have the second-worst winning percentage of any NFL team on Monday night that has played a minimum of 10 games.
The Bengals last played in a "Monday Night Football" game at home on Sept.25, 1989.
A great many things have changed in the 15-plus years since Cincinnati was cast in the glow of the nation's gaze on ABC's "Monday Night Football."
| CATEGORY | 1989 | 2004 |
| Local news of the day in Cincinnati | New state guidelines on drug
treatment programs threaten local agencies. | Kroger Co. reaches agreement with
labor union. |
| Major national stories | Charleston, S.C., tries to recover from Hurricane Hugo. | George W. Bush and John Kerry battle for the White House. |
| Major international stories | Soviet Union makes three
concessions in nuclear arms control. | The war in Iraq continues. |
| Cincinnati mayor | Charlie Luken | Charlie Luken |
| Cost of a regular gallon of gas | $1.12 | $1.97 |
| Cost of a first-class postage stamp | 25 cents | 37 cents |
| Cost of a gallon of milk | $2.34 | $3.29 |
| Dow-Jones index | 2,791 | 9,758 (Friday close) |
| Top TV shows | "Rosanne," "The Cosby Show, " "Cheers" | "CSI," CSI: Miami,"
"Desperate Housewives" |
| Top movies | "Driving Miss Daisy," "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," "Batman" | "The Grudge," "Shark Tale," "Shall We Dance?" |
| Top songs | "Fight the Power," Public Enemy; "Like a Prayer," Madonna; "Love Shack," B-52s | "My Boo," Usher and Alicia Keys; "Goodies," Ciara featuring Peter Pablo; "Lose My Breath," Destiny's Child |
| Berlin Wall | Would stand for only six more weeks | Down so long some Americans don't remember what it stood for |
| "MNF" Announcers | Al Michaels, Frank Gifford,
Dan Dierdorf | Michaels, John Madden |
| Bengals QBs | Boomer Esiason | Carson Palmer |
| Opposing QBs | Bernie Kosar | Jake Plummer |
| Bengals status | Defending AFC champion | coming off 8-8 record, just second non-losing season in the last 13 years |
| World Series teams | Oakland and San Francisco | Boston and St. Louis |
