The Cincinnati Bengals have not won a post-season game in 25 years.
They have lost 7 straight post-season games.
My prediction for tonight’s wild card game vs the favored Pittsburgh Steelers follows.
Bengals 23 Steelers 21
The Steelers are just under a field goal favorite.
The city of Pittsburgh has won wild card round games vs the city of Cincinnati in each of the two previous battles.
The Pirates won the wild card game vs the Reds in 2013.
The Steelers began their incredible march to the 2005 season Super Bowl win by beating the Bengals in Cincinnati.
Having split the last two Super Bowl games, the Seattle Seahawks have done very well in recent playoff games.
They went (5-1) in the post-season while advancing to two straight Super Bowls.
Seattle was the NFC one seed each of the last two seasons and rode it to the Supe by winning all 4 home games.
Their other “Supe” appearance after the 2005 NFL season was also marked by two home wins as the NFC one seed.
The franchise has quite a discrepancy in home/road success in the playoffs.
Seattle is a stellar (11-2) at home but just (2-9) in road playoff tilts. They have won 9 straight home playoff games but as the NFC six seed can not play in one this year.
The team also has a bit of a Saturday/Sunday playoffs success discrepancy, though not as pronounced nor nearly as relevant as home/road. The Seahawks are (9-4) in Saturday playoff games, just (5-9) on Sundays. In wild card round or divisional games played on Sunday they are just (1-6).
After his (3-0) week predicting NFL games in week 15, I did not get WFAN radio Mike Francesa’s predictions in the last two weeks of the NFL regular season.
This week I have them. I could say “you can have them” as in I would go against most, if not all, but his year prognosticating, surely has been better than mine.
Today Francesa says:
Kansas City Chiefs minus three at the Houston Texans.
Cincinnati Bengals plus three vs the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Tomorrow the Sunday Mike Francesa predictions for this wild card round of the NFL playoffs.
Clemson University will be bidding for its first national title since 1981 when they face Alabama University in Monday night’s national title tilt.
Their only title win was in that 1981 game.
It was in the Orange Bowl vs a Nebraska team trying to spoil the Clemson title dream. It was not a game in which victory would have meant a title for Nebraska.
An experienced, excellent television announcer Don Criqui, who has proven not so great on radio, worked that game for NBC television.
Even a sub par Criqui is far better than Chris Fowler, a man with limited play by play experience and talent.
Sadly it will be Fowler, a fine studio host, who will be calling his second title tilt on Monday.
Brent Musburger, pictured above, hypes like no other. He is beyond annoying as again was evidenced during his broadcast of last week’s Rose Bowl.
Yet give me Musburger and not Fowler for the title tilt.
This is the 39th time since the magnificent performer Elvis Presley’s death in 1977, that his January birthday has followed.
Today watching some of the many Elvis Presley movies on Turner Classic Movies I simply point out that no matter what your musical taste nor your take on what did eventually take Elvis and his great talent from us, there is no denying his appeal as a performer.
Surely he was not for everybody and I, of all people, usually stray far away from the masses and to what appeals to them, but count me as an Elvis fan.
He was a record breaker in so many ways and I vividly recall in another record breaker, Wilt Chamberlain’s book (not the later one in which Wilt plays with us regarding a certain number and act) how he admired Mr. Presley and how so many who mocked him as a passing fancy, stood on lines to see him perform.
Thankfully records of another kind and their “kissing? cousins,” tapes and compact discs play and we can still hear his wonderful work.
Speaking of wonderful seeing some scenes in “Viva Las Vegas,” reminds me of the wonder and beauty (inside and out) of one Ann Margaret.
Elvis Presley, Ann Margret – The Lady Loves Me – Viva Las …
Click above to view Elvis and Ann, two undeniable vibrant, beautiful individuals in a nice musical number.
For the third time in five seasons, the NFL playoffs will begin in Houston the home of the Texans.
Twice before the Texans, who face the K.C. Chiefs nee Dallas Texans, opened the NFL playoffs with wild card round victories.
Each of those victories was against the Cincinnati Bengals, who oddly play later tomorrow as there are two AFC games on the same day for the first time ever in this round and just the second time in NFL post-season history (the 1977 divisional round being the other).
I offer no prediction on what I feel is a too close to call game or even spread with the road team, Chiefs favored by three points.
A higher scoring game than expected, the total points gauged at 40 and I predict more than 40 points to be scored in the game.
The second season of the incredible network show “American Crime” premiered on the ABC television network last night.
I was lucky enough to not only see an advanced screening of season 2, episode 1 the night before at the 92 Y in Manhattan but also to have seen and heard from cast members and the incredible writer/director of the series John Ridley.
When such great, experienced (they all look great by the way) performers as Timothy Hutton, Felicity Huffman and Lili Taylor all are back and enthused about a second season with the “Incredible Mr. Ridley (not Ripley, though Ripley should be informed concerning this man’s ability and work) surely this is a show not to be missed.
This comes from someone so disappointed in television, especially network television.
I love the three performers as well gaining tidbits from all three both before and after the talk.
Mr. Hutton commented on his role as a basketball coach this season and told the audience he sought advice from the coach of the world champion Golden State Warriors, Steve Kerr.
I will have more on the show, revealing now that the actors all have different roles in a completely new story line this season, in the future weeks.
To close this post, I feel so fortunate to have met the gracious, talented Timothy Hutton and to extend my praise for the work of his dad, actor Jim Hutton.
Sadly as Timothy pointed out we had Jim Hutton for far too short a time. On we all go, few carrying on his father’s legacy and adding to it, the way Timothy Hutton has done.
After the Houston Oilers did themselves and the Cincinnati Bengals a big favor by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in a season finale Sunday night tilt, in 1990–Cincy had no mercy, routing the Oilers in a wild card round game the following week.
That game 25 years ago was the last time that the Bengals won a post-season game.
Starting with a loss to the Oakland Raiders in the divisional round (a game best remembered as the one in which the Raiders’ Vincent “Bo” Jackson suffered a football career ending injury) a week later, the Bengals currently are amidst a 25 year, 7 game post season losing streak.
They have lost in all six wild card round games since the 1990 win.
Additionally Cincy has lost in the wild card round in each of the last 4 seasons, all in games started by quarterback Andy Dalton.
It is very likely that A.J. Mc Carron and not the injured Dalton will start at the quarterback position in the Saturday night (first time ever that the neutral/Al Michaels affiliated network is not televising the Saturday night or later Saturday or until last year any Saturday wild card round game) game on CBS likely with Jim Nantz as the lead announcer.
Vincent “Bo” Jackson who also played major league baseball for the team that won this year’s World Series (The Kansas City Royals) and at least one other, was injured in the game that started the current 7 game Cincinnati Bengals post-season losing streak.
In addition to Ken Griffey Jr, who set a record for the highest percentage of votes received, (this also is ridiculous as the so called “Kid” was a great player but his accomplishments and for that matter are dwarfed by the likes of Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays). Mike Piazza also made the Hall of Fame.
Even more than in the case with Griffey forgive me for not doing cartwheels, in fact forgive me for not being moved one bit.
Piazza, a catcher with great statistics, so the voters put him in. Could you write a history of Piazza’ s time in baseball without including him. I think one can.
Most discouraging was writer/ESPNer Ian O’Connor writing that Piazza became a Hall of Famer a September night in 2001 because he hit a home run that keyed a New York Mets’ win vs the Atlanta Braves. The Mets failed to make the expanded post-season that year.
Events took place on September 11th of that year that among other things caused baseball games to be postponed. In the first game played by his team, Piazza hit a home run for a team that failed to make the playoffs. That does not make him a Hall of Fame player.
Joe DiMaggio, note the space on the Life cover but that is not how his name was spelled or configured, played in 10 World Series, his Yankees’ teams winning 9, yet did not even make the Hall on his first try.
In contrast not only does Griffey Jr., who never even played in a World Series, make the Hall in his first try but does so with the highest percentage of votes ever.
On a lighter note to ease my perhaps misplaced and clearly exaggerated frustration with all things baseball today some recollections of one of the great playwright Neil Simon’s autobiographical works.
Simon wanted to be a New York Yankee. However, in addition to likely limited baseball ability, he observed Yankees were named Tony or Joe. Neil lamented that he ate spaghetti made with tomato sauce from a can and decided he would be a writer.
First thank goodness he did become a writer and as one with limited baseball ability and whose mother made baked spaghetti (actually pretty good, greatly appreciated now when what I eat is much less) I surely can relate.
The Cincinnati Bengals played in and lost the first NFL divisional round game with the AFC/NFC configuration in 1970.
Cincy lost its first three playoff games, (all divisional round games), the first two under its great coach, Paul Brown and to the eventual Super Bowl champion (the then Baltimore Colts in 1970 and a great Miami Dolphins team in 1973).
They also lost to a fine Oakland Raiders team, covering the spread in defeat, in 1975. The next year Oakland won it all, giving John Madden, the vastly over rated Raiders’ coach his only title in his only Supe appearance.
Next in the playoffs in 1981, guided by Ken Anderson at quarterback, the Bengals won both the divisional round game and AFC title game at home. They lost to the great Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. It was the first of 5 “S.F.” titles, the first four with Montana at quarterback in 9 seasons (1981-1989).
After losing to the New York Jets in an extra round of playoffs caused by the player’s strike in 1982 (now there is an extra round which has included 8 teams since 1990), the Bengals again rode home divisional round and AFC title game wins to make the Super Bowl.
Again, though they kept it close, covering the spread in defeat, Cincy lost to Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers. It was the third Montana/49ers title.
Joe Montana pictured above (note the 4 Super Bowl rings, one achieved with help from a running back named Bill Ring), and the 49ers denied the Bengals in two Super Bowls. Neither loss was a rout the first game was considered even and SF won by 5 points after building a (20-0) lead. My point is through the 1988 season and even 1990 which I will touch on in part 2, the Bengals were a more than respectable post-season team.
