CINCINNATI — With a wholly nerve-wracking overtime win over the Denver Broncos on Saturday, the Cincinnati Bengals kept their playoff hopes alive heading into Week 18's meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
For fans like Kandyss Sutphen, a 30-year fan from Northeast Pennsylvania, the OT win was par for the course in an up-and-down season filled with close losses.
"My fingernails are a testimony to kind of what it's like," Sutphen said. "They're not girly nails because it feels like every week is a nail-biter."
Sutphen and her daughter traveled to Cincinnati on a whim the day before the Broncos game.
She said she had to be in the stands with some hope for post-regular season play on the line.
"Bengals fans never say die," Sutphen said.
Fans told us they know it'll take more than just another standout game from star quarterback Joe Burrow to beat the Steelers. The defense is going to have to step up as their inconsistency has largely led to the roller coaster of a season.
"After a while, you just kind of get numb to it," Andrew Gauder said. "Just when you start to lose hope, they reel you back in."
Gauder and Sutphen both stopped into the Rookwood Plaza Rally House on Monday to gear up for the coming Week 18 match-up.
Manager Ben Woeste said the Bengals' four-game win streak and holiday shopping season combined to help his store's bottom line.
"With their flair for the dramatic? I think that helps the fans hold on harder," Woeste said.
The Bengals will need to beat the Steelers and hope the Denver Broncos fall to a Kansas City Chiefs team that's likely sitting its starters. They'll also need the Miami Dolphins to lose to the ailing New York Jets.
If all of that happens, the Bengals would sneak into the post-season.
Every fan we spoke to said it was going to happen.
"I don't think there's any reason not to hope, so yes," Woeste said.
"Why not?" Gauder said.
"I'm saying yes until they give us a negative percent chance," Sutphen said.
The Bengals and Steelers face off Saturday at 8 p.m. The game airs on WCPO 9.
