Who had the Cincinnati Bengals winning the 2022 AFC title? Me! Live on CD 92.9 at the beginning of the playoffs. Damn, this ain't a fluke either. All season I've loved the core they've put together down there. Joe Cool, three baller wide outs.….a growing defense. Great special teams. If Who Dey doesn't finish the job Sunday it'll be that leaky offensive line. The Rams can get after the quarterback. More on my pick in a moment.
First let's have some fun rooting around Youtube to see what classic Bengals content we can find. I figured I'd focus on that first glory season in 1981. We could start with Super Bowl 16 against the 49ers in January of 1982, but long forgotten is the fact that Cincinnati hosted San Francisco just a few weeks prior at old Riverfront Stadium on December 6, 1981. Turns out it wasn't much of a game.
The NFL is cracking down on embedding some of this content so you’ll have to follow the link on this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ0ZzjibqrI
Well here's a throwback. How often do you lose the picture watching an NFL game? Not often now. Back in the day it happened all the time... like 5 minutes into this one. Ah, that takes me back.
Fun fact: Former Ram Fred Dryer did color in this dud of a game. Less than three years later Dryer would star in the network hit Hunter.
Speaking of TV stars; Chris Collinsworth was a rookie that season.….and a pro bowler. The Florida man was a good player. That said, had he caught a perfect Ken Anderson ball an hour and a half into this video it would have been a whole other ball game. One play later Ken Anderson would get sacked on that green concrete and come up lame. Coming on in relief was Washington State Cougar legend, the Throwin' Samoan Jack Thompson! Yeah he didn't do much. He was not a good pro, but he's a great Coug and we love him.
Not much about this game would portend to a Super Bowl 16 matchup: 49ers 21 Bengals 6.
Obviously the most remembered game of that Cincinnati run to Super Bowl XVI was the Freezer Bowl. I'll get to that in a moment. A much more competitive tilt however was a week prior, also in Cincinnati, when the Bengals hosted the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round. The two clubs had a great one in that same venue in week 4 of ‘81, with Cincinnati prevailing on a Jim Breech field goal in overtime 27-24.
Anyway when they met in the playoffs you knew it was big because NBC sent their "A" Team of Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen. Hey Olsen was an actor too!
Father Murphy! Little House on the Prairie! Real corny stuff. Hey, it was the beginning of the Reagan years. Anyway, ironically, and like Fred Dryer, Olsen was a legendary LA Ram. Kids back in those days movie and TV execs were basically just signing up retired LA Ram defensive linemen and giving them TV shows. Anyway, I digress. Here’s the game.
Totally forgot that the great Chuck Knox would soon leave Buffalo to lead my Seahawks to their first AFC Championship game just two years later. My God that turf was just fucking awful. Several players could have been killed.
Great season for the AFC East that year. Buffalo finished third, but made the playoffs. Where was OJ Simpson? He had retired two years prior as a 49er, of all teams, and.….you guessed it.….became an actor.….and an NFL sideline guy. In fact, the last time the Bengals won a playoff game before this year he did the post-game interview.
OJ and Boomer after Bengals defeated the Oilers in 1990 playoffs.
Weird, right? Anyway, on to the game. You realize watching the Bengals that unlike a lot of teams 40+ years ago the Bengals would sometimes feature three wide receiver sets. Not every down, but they were not afraid to sling the rock. Even a decade plus into his career Anderson moved around really well. All that said, a good one-two punch in the backfield was required back in the day. Cripes I had forgotten what a horse Pete Johnson was, but Charles Alexander pounds it in for the first TD. Great block by Johnson.
At 16:39 a pick from the great Ken Riley! I could never figure out why he got to wear #13. DBs didn't get numbers in the teens... until this season I guess. Man he was in his 13th season at this point. Sadly we lost Riley a couple of years ago to a heart attack.
Isaac Curtis with a big catch. The names are everywhere...Anthony Munoz...Dave Lapham. This was a great team: Bengals 28 Bills 21
Anyway we're about out of time. I'll leave you with links to the Freezer Bowl AFC Championship Game On January 10, 1982. The San Diego Chargers - after an epic win in Miami the previous week - had to face the Bengals. The wind-chill at kickoff was -59 degrees. Cincinnati won easily 27-7. I'm chilled to the bone just watching this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHHyJsVIF6Q
The Super Bowl didn't turn out so hot, but here it is too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsg72NQC8xw
And by the way... in November of ‘81 the Bengals would easily beat the LA Rams 24-10. On the call Vin Skully and Hank Stram!
I think Sunday's game will be closer than 24-10. I really do like the Bengals. They've already proven in the Tennessee game that they can overcome 9 sacks (NINE!) and win. Don't forget, until this season, Matthew Stafford had virtually no playoff experience. He's prone to occasional brain farts. Stafford throws two picks. Burrow is sacked six times, but overcomes with a late touchdown throw to CJ Uzomah. Evan McPherson nails three field goals including a 54 yarder at the half.
My prediction: Bengals 30 Rams 27.