NORWOOD, Ohio — It was supposed to be a highly-anticipated, Super Bowl-destined season. Now, the Bengals feel like they're fumbling once again.
Disappointing, sad and hopeless is how Bengals fan Ken Lysaght described the 2024 season. He was shopping for merchandise that had a tiger on it for his son-in-law at the Rally House in Norwood.
“Dallas is terrible, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to win,” Lysaght said. “There are a lot of little things that would have changed this season, but when you’re averaging 30-something points a game and not winning, defense is a problem.”
Despite the problems, fans keep coming for Bengals gear to Rally House in Norwood, manager Ben Woeste said. Over the weekend, several people stopped by to "leave some tiger marks" on Jerry World in Dallas.
"It felt like we were filling most of that plane we saw on the internet," Woeste said with a laugh. "We're still selling every week. People are still in here. They're excited to go to the game. I think there's still hope."
At this point in the season, Ja’Marr Chase said he’s motivated “because of the memories” he’s trying to make with other players.
“The season didn’t go our way, so right now I’m just enjoying the process,” Chase said.
Longtime fan Bruce Key wants to turn that thinking on its head.
“He says he’s playing for the memories,” Key said. “If he wins, he’ll have a hell of a memory.”
Despite the lackluster season, Key still has optimism: “It’s football, anything can happen in football.”
ESPN1530 afternoon host Mo Egger isn’t as optimistic for this season.
“They are scratching and clawing, just to try to stay alive,” Egger told his listeners at the top of his show on Monday afternoon.
The front office has a lot of work ahead of them, Egger mused, to try to prevent the team from finding itself in a similar position a year from now.
“It’s criminal that you’re having a quarterback who’s having the season that he is having and yet you’re 4-8 basically with no shot of making the playoffs going into December,” he said. “I’m watching to see if they waste the greatness of Joe Burrow, who's having an MVP-caliber season and who they’ve wasted.”
One thing Egger will look for tonight is whether the Bengals can block Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons. He’ll be up against backup left tackle Cody Ford.
“Can Cody Ford and the Bengals offensive design keep Micah Parson off of Joe Borrow?” Eggers asked. “If the answer is yes, he should have a productive night against the Dallas defense that really isn’t that good.”
If the Bengals win, NFL stats show their playoff chances go from 2% to 3%.
