The Cincinnati Bengals are two wins away from their first Super Bowl title in franchise history, but will have to get past the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
As.comUpdate: Jan 26th, 2022 00:03 EST
Christopher HanewinckelUSA TODAY Sports
Joe Burrow has reignited a flame that has been blown out for decades in Cincinnati by bringing the Bengals back to the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
Big bounce back for Burrow
The Bengals were barely on the radar coming into the season, after a 4-11-1 season that saw the future of the franchise’s season cut short when he Burrow was carted off the field with a torn ACL against Washington in Week 11.
Even Bengals fans would have had a hard time believing their team would make such strides in such a short time, but here they are, heading into the AFC Championship after winning the AFC North and beating the Las Vegas Raiders for their first playoff win in over three decades.
They took down the top seeded Tennessee Titans in Nashville last weekend, and on Sunday Burrow will have a chance to get the Bengals back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1988.
Cincy’s fourth time past first round in franchise history
The Bengals made the playoffs in their first year in the NFL all the way back in 1970, but were shutout by the Baltimore Colts 17-0 in their playoff debut.
They went to the playoffs two more times of the next decade, but would get knocked out in the the first round both times. First to the Miami Dolphins in a 34-16 route in 1973 and then to the Oakland Raiders by a field goal two years later.
The Bengals have won back-to-back playoff games & will reach the conference title game for the first time since 1988. It is also their 1st road playoff win ever. They become just the 2nd team in playoff history to give up 9 sacks and still win the game (Chiefs 1967). pic.twitter.com/8pmhJhOjCl
— Greg Harvey (@BetweenTheNums) January 23, 2022
Bengals hoping not to see Niners if they make Super Bowl
The 80’s were the golden age for the Cincinnati. After a five year absence in the postseason the Bengals went back to the playoffs in 1981, and went all the way to the Super Bowl after earning the top seed, beating the Bills in the Divisional Round, and then the Chargers the week after to secure their spot in their first Super Bowl in franchise history.
Cincy would go on to fall to the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl two weeks later, but the Bengals would be back contending for a Lombardi trophy before the 80’s came to an end.
Seven years later they met San Francisco again after beating the Seattle Seahawks and the Buffalo Bills in the 1988 playoffs. Cincinnati would drop another heartbreaking one possession game at the hands of the Niners as the Bengals golden age came to a close.
Seven playoff trips, seven straight losses from 2005-2020
Boomer Esaison and the Bengals would miss the playoffs a year after going to the Super Bowl, but returned the next season. That was the last year that Cincinnati fans witnessed their team win a playoff game until Joe Burrow came to town.
